Research - Analysis of pop and rock conventions

Smooth Criminal - Differences between Michael Jackson's and the Alien Ant Farm version

Michael Jackson

• Semiotics - pop ideology
• Setting - in an underground place, nightclub, dark low key lighting - contrasting between MJ and dancers
• Costume - MJ in a white suit which makes him stand out against others and the setting
• This makes everyone focus on MJ
• There is a sense of realism emphasised
• Gangster vibes - like Bugsy Malone
• Often pop is more dance related
• Set in a club, more relatable for pop culture fans
• MJ is wearing a white suit contrasts with AAF because it shows sophistication and smartness
• Foley Sounds used to make it more fun, amusing and entertaining
• Match on action shots used making it simpler - constructing a narrative -makes it memorable
• music about entertainment

Alien Ant Farm

• Semiotics - rock ideology
• Setting - in a boxing ring, outside, in front garden, showing they don't care
• Putting on a show for the community
• Lighting is very high key
• Three fangirls holding a 'we <3 A.A.F.' sign
• most characters dressed in casual wear -jeans and t shirt
• Props - guitars, microphone, drum kit, boxing ring, monkey - Intertextual references
• There is not a main focus
• main band copy MJ's moves
• Boxing ring signifies violence, competition and rivalry
• they're performing outside at an expensive house - rebellion, don't care what people think
• Playing own instruments denotes being a musician
• no narrative, all about the performance which is common in rock songs 

Research - Feedback from questionnaire

Feedback from Questionnaire

Below is the results we received from the questionnaire:

Question 8 was an open question since we wanted to find out peoples favourite artist. the responses we got to this were:
1. Oasis
2. Wolf Alice
3. Beyonce
4. The Weeknd
5. Run the Jewels, My Nu Leng, Rebel Sound
6. One Direction
7. Micheal Jackson
8. The Weeknd
9. Bring me the Horizon
10. One Direction
11. Mariah Carey
12. The Weeknd
13. The Weeknd

Research - Market Research Questionnaire

Market Research Questionnaire

To find out who we are going to target our music video at we need to know which market to enter, to find out this information my partner and i are going to write up a questionnaire to hand out to various age groups with people of different demographics to find out who our audience is going to be. This will be a useful source of primary research that should give us an insight to the types of people interested in the music genre of 'Crazy In Love'.

I will put up another post about what the results are that we receive, this will be in about a weeks time. We are carrying this survey out on Survey Monkey as it is an easier platform for us to use. To gain results we are going to email it around to people within our school and also publish it on social media so that people of different ages will get a chance to share their opinion.

Planning - Voice Over Dance Routine

Voice Over Dance Routine

This is a video of the dance routine we think we will replicate in our music video, we have spoken over it some of out thoughts. 

Research - Example Shots

Example Shots

Below are a variety of shots from various music videos that my partner and i liked, so we decided to screen shot them and put them of here as inspiration for when we come to creating a shot list of our own.

Planning - Ideas Mind Map

Mind map of ideas

Research - Analysis of generic music video

Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do

Besides that this song was made for a film and there are clips from the film in there, the rest of the video has given me a lot of inspiration for my own music video in the sense that i love that she is walking around a big house it appears and she is singing as she does this. I like that they have linked the performance to the main video. Also, that there is a couple dancing in different shots in the same location that Ellie Goulding is singing, this is similar to what Kenz and I wish to do as we want a couple to appear at various times when appropriate since our song is about being crazy in love it would make sense to show the love. 

The dark lighting in the opening few clips makes the video seem mysterious and in some ways scary since she is exploring the big house like she does not know where she is going or what she is doing. None of this relates to the lyrics or what she is singing about so the clips inserted from the film explain the lyrics. I like this idea as then the narrative and performance are different but we do not want our lip synced to actually perform rather just like what Ellie is doing. There are also points where there is extremely high key lighting and a close up on Ellie Goulding's face showing us that she is the star image. 

Research - Analysis of generic music video

Fergie - Big Girls Don't Cry

One of the main impacts that this music video has had on me for my own is that i like how the narrative and performance fit so well and in some way intertwine since the star image of them both is the same girl (Fergie) so it helps us relate the story with her life and the lyrics. There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals as at 0.40 she talks about his skin and there is a close up of her tattoo showing the kind of person he is. Also, the narrative and performance join in the fact sometimes the narrative she will be singing the lyrics to the song even though they are different, this shows that the song is about her and she is talking about personal issues.

In terms of lighting and cinematography because it enhances who the star image of the video is as throughout the whole focus is on Fergie, when she is singing in the what looks like a barn and when she is showing the story of her and her 'lover'. The lighting always extenuates her face and body making her look like perfection, which is why the audience who i am assuming would be teen girls since they would believe they can relate, would look up to her and idolise her looks and want to be her. The cinematography always has Fergie is the centre, once again proving my point of her star image. There is also a sense of Goodwin's theory of voyeurism as we see the male character and Fergie kissing at 2.50 which should be a private since they are in the comfort of their own home and probably do not want to be watched.

The mise-en-scene in this video is works cleverly with the narrative since the video is showing that she doesn't want to leave but she has to. the opening shot is of Fergie walking into a sort of abandoned warehouse from the outside but inside it appears quite homely to relate to the house in the narrative part of the video.

Research - Star Image

Star Image presented in 'Pretty Girl Rock' by Keri Hilson

In this song you can see who the star image is by how she is represented not only by visuals but also how the lyrics fit to what she is doing. One of the main ways that we can tell she is being portrayed as the star image is because in some of the shots at 1.00 she is doing a performance and she is the centre of stage in a different outfit to the girls. Also, there are many different close ups on her and her face trying to make the audience focus on her. Like at 0.19 seconds she looks directly at the camera and the screen fades inwards so it makes the audience look directly at her.

The angle of the shots looks up at Keri throughout many points in the video, especially when she is on a stage as it makes the audience have a sense that they are win a crowd looking up at her as if to say that she is above them in the hierarchy, therefore, proving my point of her being the star image. Through miss-en-scene you can tell that she that she is wearing the least out of every one, this is sexualising her and trying to make her seem more attractive, also with her red lips, to men making her stand out amongst everyone so she is the main focus.

During her performance at 2.20 there is a bright light behind her exaggerating her figure and drawing out attention towards her. There is also a shot where she she is touching her hair and pulling it back revealing her neck so also showing her being sexualised to try and appear more attractive. This makes the audience idolise her and want to be her as she is appearing beautiful which is what the lyrics are saying so to add to all of this is proving Andrew Goodwin's theory of lyrics and visuals.

Planning - Treatment

Treatment and Audience

The genre of our music video is pop but not your usual type of pop as it is calmer and not as upbeat. It has more of a lyrical, slower feel which makes it still as catchy but it also allows the audience to connect with what the song is meaning. We were a bit skeptical of this kind of song at first as we thought that it would be harder to use slower shots as they need to be more precise, however, after thinking about it, it will not make much of a difference as long as out shots are in time with the beat and make sense.

I wouldn't say that there is a specific type of audience that will watch out video as it is of the pop genre and so should appeal to the majority of people. Although, in my opinion our video should attract to mainly teenagers as it about relationships and during teen years they find relationships new and exciting. I am assuming that more so girls will watch our videos as they like to think they can relate to the lyrics and their own lives even though often this is not the case.

Within our video we were not originally going to include a narrative as in love songs it can often come across as too cliched. However, we then decided against it once we had found the song that we did as it calls for a little bit of couple action. There is nothing really abstract in our video or we do not plan for it anyway as it would not fit with our narrative or song choice, which should prevent our target audience from becoming disinterested or confused. Our narrative will involve a couple as the song is about love and we plan to only have a few shots of them being 'cute' together to represent and relate to the lyrics of being 'crazy in love.' Fans of Taylor Swift and romantic/pop genre should find our video appealing, although the polysemy of texts may lead to varied responses.

At the moment we haven't specifically thought about what intertextual factors we will include in our music video but we will adopt a fast-paced and upbeat style and tempo that should appeal to our target market of the teenage demographic.

There isn't necessarily going to be one main star image as our video is not about one particular person; however, at the current moment we do believe that we are going to be using the same person to do the lip-syncing/performance bit of our sing and also perform the modern ballet dance routine so i guess she plays a major part in it. Although, I would not say we want out audience to focus on her and she has nothing to do with the narrative since we are planning on having a couple feature since the song is about being in 'love'.

Our audience to our music video were the stereotypical teenage girls who like watching music videos of the pop genre, appealing to mainstreamers (psychographics). We came to this audience from the song as it is a typical pop song with a theme of love wand romantic involvement that will encourage the ideal viewer to identify with the narrative. We got help deciphering our target audience when we constructed market research through the use of an online survey and questionnaire. We found out some useful information from this and discovered that these were the audience that we would need to cater our video to their needs.

Something else that aided us in finding out our target audience was the fact that we researched many music videos and so were able to see what the common themes and conventions. 

Planning - Lyric Analysis

Lyric Analysis

Below are pictures of the lyrics to out song of choice after Kenz and i annotated them:

Planning - Our song choice

Our Song Choice

Today Kenz and i came to the conclusion of what song we're going to make a music video to, this is Cray in Love by Sofia Karlberg which is a cover of the original that Beyonce did. We are both happy with our decision and cannot wait to start getting out idea together ready to film it. We both have many different shot ideas that we want to include which will work with this song which is why none of the other songs we thought about doing would have worked. 

We came to this decision as we both enjoyed the original of this song however it is 1. by Beyonce who is a signed artist and 2. was a bit too upbeat and dance for what we had in mind and so we searched for other songs and whilst doing so came across this cover which was made for a film. This then became very popular due to the fact that it was calmer and portrayed a sense of a ballad but there are all chorus' where we can incorporate all the shots and still use all the ideas we have.

Research - Discussion of song choice with my partner

Discussion with Kenz

My partner and I had quite a hard time trying to find a song that would allow us to include all of the ideas that we wanted. Out initial thought was to do a dance track and make it quite abstract and have shots that would change on the beat as we thought that this would simpler than creating more of a ballet. However, we were proven wrong when we listen to numerous amounts of songs that we assumed would work and turned out wouldn't. Since we had to find a song that is not by a signed artist it was a lot more difficult as we had to find a cover that still had the same beat as the original song.

At first we thought that the best song for us to do would be 'Ain't Nobody (Loves Me Better) ft. Jasmine Thompson by Felix Jaehn.' It was perfect since the beat was the same but it was a little slower so we could still use the ideas we had using a ballet dancer without it being super sad, slow and emotional. Next, we had the idea of maybe having a slow narrative music video as this would be calmer and and we could get more detailed shots. We had thought of the song 'Strong by London Grammar' as the beat was slow but also we would not be tied down to making it too difficult. we thought that this song would be perfect for us to use the idea of having a girl in front of a projector and on the projector screen would be a girl ballet dancing to the song. We thought that this would have a good affect as there would be a contrast on the fact that there would be one girl ballet dancing and one in front singing.

Another few songs that we had considered were those that are below:

Research - Music Video Analysis Using Goodwin's Conventions

Mario – Let Me Love You

This song is a classic hip hop love song where there is the guy singer who is singing to the girl, this is sterotypical for this type of song as it is very common for the artist to be serendaing the person who the song is about. Also, a sterotype is that quite a lot of hip hop artist are once again quite often of another race and black people are known to be good as dancing and so there are a lot of shots of Mario and his friends dancing in time to his song and sometimes doing a performace the girl.

Also, there are shots of him working out showing he is powerful and stong, and in terms of the lyrics he is trying to prove himself to the girl to get her attention which is what a lot of songs now-a-days are about. The setting for most of the video looked like it was in a run down warehouse of some sort as the walls were brick and there were quite a few shots of grafity, this tells me that this may have been to do with the singer past life since black people are often associated with gangs who are stereotypically the type of people who are likely to grafity.

Research - Music Video Analysis Using Goodwin's Conventions

Klangkarussell – Sonnentanz ft. Will Heard

Since this song is of the pop genre, it includes a lot of objects and activities that we would associate with summer as this makes it seem more appealing to the person watching. The different variety of shot types would appeal to wide audience as it is attracting youth since they are the ones who would have a summer like the girls in the video. Being of this reason I would say it is a pop genre since it can be enjoyed by everyone and be popular amongst a lot of people. This includes the fact that the lyrics are all about love and emotions which a lot of young people believe they can relate to and so then become more interested in the song. This music video uses disjuncture as the meaning of the song has nothing to do with the lyrics apart from them both giving off a happy and chilled vibe.  

Research - Music Video Analysis Using Goodwin's Conventions

Stormzy – Know Me From

The genre of this music video is quite obviously rap from the very start. When using micro analysis, I can see that there are no white people in any of it which agrees with the stereotype of most rappers being of another race or ethnicity. It is being filmed in a rough are with lots of accommodation, this is saying to me that Stormzy must relate to the area if he is filming a song about if people know who he is, which then also ties in with the stereotype of more black people living in poorer areas in what I am guessing to be London.

All of the costumes of the extras and the rapper are very similar, there are no bright colours on their clothes only blacks and greys which are tracksuits or quite plain casual outfits showing they did not dress up even though its a music video. This is once again proving the stereotype of black people being involved in gangs with hoodies, relating to the area, this is what everyone around there would be wearing so for them it is quite normal.

Throughout the whole video, the main rapper, Stormzy, is always in the centre of the shot therefore being the main sense of attention for all of it, his black clothes contrast against the light background making him stand out the most. We see him in mainly a sequence of mid to long shots, having these types of shots makes it easier for us to see the setting around him and for us to the relate the stereotypes together. The lyrics and visuals relate in the beginning of the video as he hold up pieces of cardboard of an iphone when he says 'iphone' and the whats app logo when he says it, this is telling us the opposite to your typical black stereotype as usually they would not have enough money but the song is telling us that we don't know him so we shouldn't judge him.