Final Music Video Analysis.

This music video is for the R&B band Jodeci. It is a purely performance type music video and is very conventional of both the R&B genre as well as the individual music video genre. It is mainly conventional because it features a large number of close ups of the band members to promote image as well as the band members being dressed up fashionably for the time.
Starting with the mis-en-scene it is immediately conventional of a music video from this genre of music. The clothes worn by the singers connote a sense of success and wealth as well as being fashionable and good looking towards the opposite gender. There are frequent shots showing the band members sunglasses, chains and hats up close.
The camera work used throughout mainly consists of close up shots of the band members, again meeting the conventions of a music video as well as Goodwins theory that record labels will demand lots of close ups of the band. This is to promote band image by showing many close ups of them either on their own or the whole group looking good, fashionable and iconic. The majority of the other shots are mainly mid shots of the crowds surrounding the band while they perform. There are also frequent close ups used to show happy members of the audience. This is because the common theme throughout the video is enjoyment and happiness.
The setting can also be considered conventional of the R&B genre. Showing the band performing live on the streets and in neighbourhoods for their audience. What could be considered unconventional is the fact that the location never really changes during the video. Most performance element music videos will consist of multiple locations where the band performs. However in this video the band only performs in the same city, changing streets and neighbourhoods a few times as the bus drives slowly along with the crowds that follow.
An interesting element used in the editing process was that the whole video was changed to being in black and white. This is quite unconventional of the music video genre. There could be a number of reasons why this effect was chosen some to do with the overall theme of the video. Black and white film can connote something is classic and that is what the band members may have considered themselves. Each shot changes by a quick, simple straight cut to keep the pace of the video and also a feeling of reality.
There is no artificial lighting use in the filming stage however in the editing phases the brightness may of been increased. However the filming date has been specifically chosen on a bright, sunny day to match the feeling and tone of the song. This is because the song is deemed as a happy song this is evident when looking at the message the music video sends. The lighting used during the daytime scenes connotes that it is summer time which also matches the feeling of the song as it is often the season people are at their most happiest. When day switches to night towards the end of the video, their is extra light placed on the band by flood lights. This is so they are the most visible thing in shot and once again the main focus of the audience during the video.
There are no artificial symbolic elements used in the video. Instead there are people used as symbolic elements. During the video there are close ups of all different varieties of people to connote that everyone is getting along and represent a feeling of equality and happiness. There are shots of children, teenages, adults and elderly people. Shots of people from all different ethnicities as well as all different sizes of people. This is to keep with the theme of the video and match the lyrics of the song which again matches goodwins theory.
The overall theme of the video is that music is something that can bring everyone together no matter what differences they may have.

Website Research

As part of our ancillary texts, we have chosen to create a website. At first, we had absolutely no idea how to do this so this is all a completely new concept. We wanted a website that stands out and suits the image of the band. This meant, colours, fonts and menus that match the style of music that the band play. I have looked at a few websites to see what kind of things are involved in creating one. I looked at Slash's, Cage The Elephant's and Beady Eye's websites. I looked at Beady Eye because they are an upcoming band similar to the band of our video so I thought a few elements could be similar. There was a big picture of the band, this was the main focus of the page, making the audience's attention be drawn to the picture and show what the band look like.

This is a screenshot of that particular websites homepage:

As

you can see, the picture of the band draws the attention straight away. This

shows everyone on the looking on the w

ebsite who is in the band and what clothes they wear. (This is important to the audience of music because people tend to dress the same way as the band they like, therefore if t

hey already do wear the same style of clothes as the band, they are likely to continue looking on the website.) There is also the huge title of the band in 'their' font. This is obviously to show the name of the band, but is also a way to relate to the band when seeing that font. For example, it could be used on a poster or something, and people would know that it was that band who's poster it was, ev

en if it didn't have the band name on. The screenshot also has tabs at the top as links to get to other pages on the site. Some of these seem important, and some not so. My plan is to find the more common and useful ones from 2 other examples to work out which ones are needed for use on our website. Also, the first options on the homepage that you see are a video clip, and a link to play their latest song. This could be because they are a ne

w ba

nd and want people to listen and watch them. This is a concept that we could use as our band is fairly new. Also as we are producing a video, this will need to be one of the main

attractions.

The second screenshot shows a news section. This is to tell the fans the latest news of tours, shows albums etc.

This is something that commonly occurs in band websites. This is a

technique that will surely be used in the creation of our own website.

There is also a link to Liam Gallagher's fashion website. Obviously none of us have our own fashion label, but is an idea that could

be used to promote

something else of ours, ie a digipak.

My third screenshot is of this bands 'soc

ial' page.

This is where people can click on a link, and find the band elsewhere such as Twitter, Facebook and Myspace. This is something that should definitely be incorporated with our website because our band have pages el

sewhere and would be handy to link people to them. It would help to become popular and to be part of the online social community.

The background colours seem to be fairly dull, but the fonts and menus slightly brighter. This could be to attract attention to the more important things. Plus it gives the page a good balance that does not look stra

nge.

The second website that I analysed was Slash's:

This website is very much a way of Slash joining the community and letting people join him, rather than promote himself. (As he does not need to.) The top option is to join the 'fanwall'. This is for people to join the website and get access to even more information. The homepage also shows the tabs at the top, similar to Beady Eye's website. However there are less options, this could be because Slash doesn't need to promote himself so much, or just because so many are not needed. The similar options are Home, News and Music. These seem to be more common than the other options. This is because it is important to get your music on there, and obviously a news page is needed as way for the band to communicate with fans. Even though there are less options at the top of the page, you can scroll down furthe

r than you can on the Beady Eye website.

The third website that I analysed was Cage The Elephant's. This is also a website with lots of pictures and is very easy to navigate. The whole thing is centered around them.

There are alot of aspects from these websites that we could use. The site must be easy to navigate. To do this, the links to other pages must be clearly visible, and must include a homepage, a page with info on the band, a page based on the music of the band, photos and videos and links to other internet pages including social network sites. The site must be a complete package with every aspect of the band that is needed to be shown shown.

This is a screenshot of my first draft homepage of my created website-

I have created tabs that have the options of home, news, music, photos, the band and events. They are made to look like spotlights with the word in the middle. I thought this suited the style of website for a band. I have a box with latest news for headlines as it were, then you can go to the news page to read properly. There is a box for new videos and one for photos so fans can see what has happened lately. There is a comments box for fans to write in and links to Facebook, Myspace and Youtube. This is so fans can easilly access these pages. The font is the signature font of the band and is used for all titles on the site.

First Shot List in Chronological Order

After planning the basics of our video and going through the song second to second, came up with what we wanted to happen at each second of the song. We knew we were looking for a performance based video with close ups of each band member and clips of live footage, so we organised these ideas into something that seemed like a music video. These are still just initial ideas and an advanced brainstorm. We still have not decided locations and costumes, but have an outline to what we want.

Shot List

1. Close up of Radio on ground- jump cut to 0.00

2. Mid shot of radio- guitarist jumps into shot 0.09

3. Wide shot of band playing intro 0.11

4. Close up of Drums 0.16

5. Close up of Rhythm Guitar 0.20

6. Wide Shot of band 0.23

7. Close up of Singer 0.28

8. Close up of Bass 0.33

9. Wide shot from behind 0.36

10. Low angle shot of lead guitar 0.42

Chorus

11. Pan on audience 0.44

12. Live footage 0.46

13. Slow mo footage 1.07

Verse

14. Close up of guitar for slide into next verse 1.10

15. Wide shot showing new location 1.11

16. Close up of lead guitar and singer (panning camera) 1.14

17. Two shot of bass and guitar 1.17

18. Over the shoulder shot of drummer (tracking round back) 1.19

19. High angle shot of whole band 1.22

20. Pre show footage (slo mo) 1.25

21. Close up of singer 1.29

22. Double close up of both guitars (split screen) 1.31

Chorus

23. Live performance 1.34

24. Slo mo close ups of all members 1.55

Jools Holland (Instrumental)

25. Drums close up, one hit from one side, one from another 2.05

26. Wide shot of everyone 2.06

27. Wide shot different location 2.09

28. Wide shot live 2.12

29. Close up of crowd 2.15

30. Close up of singer 2.17

31. Double shot of two guitars 2.19

32. Split screen drum and bass 2.21

33. Wide shot (every one jump in time) 2.24

Solo

(2.35 stills)

Chorus

34. Live Footage 2.47

35. Hand held camera turning off radio 3.13

36. Fade to black

37. After show footage with small credit and actual sound.

As you can see, we still have not decided on any shots for the solo. This is a guitar solo that we want to look like your classic conventional solos in a music video. I have linked some inspirations for what we would like: Estranged by Guns n Roses http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpmAY059TTY

If you skip to 8.05 when the main guitar solo is playing, Slash is totally isolated in a crazy location where the sea is orange, and he emerges from the water. There are loads of close ups and a lot of panning shots and zooms. There is a lot of focus on the guitar as he plays it, he also stands in his signature pose. One of the main techniques that I hope to use in our video are the long shots that look very epic and match the size of the solo that is being played.

This video by The Darkness also has a guitar solo where the guitarist stands on a rock while the rest of the band play below him. This video also uses close ups and long shots to give the solo more of an epic feeling. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGPyUSVtpZM

We decided to use footage of the end of the live performance footage that we are using with the actual audio. This would be the final shot of the video and would make it seem as if the audience watching the video was actually at the live show. (A similar effect as the Oasis video The Hindu Times, that I previously analysed.)

Second Text Analysis.

This music video is for the song "This DJ" by the rapper, Warren G in 1994.The music video is mainly a performance orientated video. However there is a small narrative to it and also some small thematic and symbolic elements. The majority and bulk of the video is made up of Warren G performing his song. The chorus almost always has Warren rapping it. The narrative occurs through out the verses. It shows the story of a child growing up in an urban area. The first verse shows a young child who is out with his friends with his bike. The second verse shows that child then as a teenager with his friends. The final chorus shows that teenager as an adult, who turns out to be Warren G, the songs writer and performer. Through out the narrative side of the song, Warren G is seen rapping and performing the song. This is usually done by green screen rather then having Warren G standing with the characters in the narrative. However he does too stand with them, as the final line of the first verse shows, where the child is biking home and Warren is standing by a lamp post. However for the majority of the narrative he is not standing with the characters to add realistic effect.
Shots including the star of the song are largely common. This makes it a conventional music video as it includes a performance and many close ups and mid shots of the performer.
There are a few locations in the video and one recurring one. The narrative mainly takes place in Long Beach, California. Where Warren G is from, it is usually in the day time. The performance sides to it and the chorus is always in an inner city area. Warren G usually performs on the streets. This is to match the theme to the video of growing up on the streets. One recurring place is underneath a street light. The establishing shot starts here and the song ends here with Warren G getting into his car during the final chorus. Other then that, there is a mix of alley ways, paths, corners, streets and roads used as locations, again sticking to the theme of the song being on the streets.
The lighting matches the narrative. For example during the day time as an adult or child, it is bright outside and sunny. There is no artificial light used, this is done to give a realistic effect as there is no strange lighting. At night, it is very under lit outside and the streets are only lit up by street lights. This is to show the inner city at night as dark and gloomy which sticks to the theme of the song of being on the streets.
The establishing shot shows two different dissolves used as a transition. The first dissolve changes the children with their bikes standing on the sidewalk to teenagers, the second changes those teenagers to adults with cars. This transition is used to show a change in time. This is different to other dissolve transitions because the location stays the same. The most common editing technique used in the video is the use of the wipe effect as a transition. Often the wipe effect is used by making Warren G rapping wipe across the screen and change the last background to a new location. An example of this is in 0:31 where Warren wipes across screen and then changes the location to a park bench where he then starts to perform again. The wipe effect is used as a transition from the narrative to the performance element and from the performance element to the narrative. In the first 19 seconds, Warren is seen walking his dog through the park, while children run past him which is used as a wipe effect. This is an example of how the narrative element of the video is used as a wipe to change to the performance element. Another editing technique which is used frequently in the video is the use of green screen effects. Throughout the video Warren is seen rapping over something in the background, be it narrative or performance. This is so there can be plenty of shots of Warren to promote his image and therefore meet the conventions of a music video. More commonly in the video, Warren is seen rapping over the narrative side to the video, using a green screen effect, rather then standing in shot.
The music video does have symbolic and thematic elements. It is conventional of its genre to feature run down inner city streets as a performance location including graffiti covered walls and under lit alleyways. The mis-en-scene through out does not show overly expensive jewellery and good looking women which is unconventional of the songs genre, however the theme of this song being about being a child growing up on the streets may provide enough reason to show more poorer situations then successful or wealthy scenarios. It also could be to the fact that this is a sub genre of rap and that this genre does not have similar conventions. There is however the use of a good car through out the song being symbolic of the rappers now wealthy lifestyle as opposed to the van shown in his teen ages.
Overall meets the conventions of both a music video and of the genre of music. Provides a running theme through out of growing up and has a moral of how the rapper hasn't changed and has grown up on the streets of Long Beach, California.

Target Audience Research

In our last lesson we learnt about demographics and psychographics and how they are used to find out what the audience you are looking for will like.

Demographics show the statistics of a population, ie age, gender and income. Demographics ca be used to find out the average age of your target audience, or the majority gender. Basically any of the basics that you need to know about people to work out if you are targeting them. The most important thing about demographics are that they are the things on the 'outside' of a person. Not what is on the inside.

On the inside is where psychographics come in. These are what people like and don't like and what they think. They are used to distinguish tastes and attitudes which is very useful when deciphering a target audience. An example of psychographics is a favourite genre of music.

This inspired us to create a questionnaire with questions about both of the above and then use the results to work out who we are aiming at.

This is how it looked:

are you male or female?
how old are you?
how much tv do you watch a week?
do you listen to the radio?
if so what stations?
where are you from?
do you generate your own income?
how much does your family earn?
do you go out for social activities often?
what is your favourite genre of music?
who is your favourite band?
how much time a day do you spend on the internet?
do you go on youtube daily?
do you go on social network sites?
if so daily?
do you read magazines? if so which?
do you prefer small or big gigs?
do you mostly: eat out, takeaway or cook your own food?
do you drink alcohol often?
do you spend alot of time out of the house?
do you ever lose your temper in simple tasks?
do you play computer games?
what was the last gig you went to?

It's not the best example of a questionnaire ever, but it was put together very quickly and gives us the information that we need.

After we gathered together all of the information, we put our findings into graphs for a clearer way to see what was wanted.

Start of Music Video Blog

During the first session of planning for our music video we thought the best place to start would be to decide a song.

Our first choices include Fire by Kasabian, Feeling This by Blink 182, Bonzo Goes To Bitburg by The Ramones and Get Up by my own band Turning Days.

We came up with a list of pros and cons for each of these songs to decide which would be the best song for us to create a video for. We looked at all angles we could think of such as what kind of video it would be, where and when we could film, whether the website would be easy to make for this band, whether we would have the right equipment for the song and if a narrative was possible.

After long, we narrowed the options down to two, and this is how they came out against eachother in a table:

Song	Pros	Cons
Get Up	Got the band for filming/website	Not a known/popular song
	Got a venue	Hard to film
	Easier to create website for real band
	Narrative possible	Have to organise a band
Bonzo Goes To Bitburg	Good song	Have to find a venue/area
	Simple instruments	Have to find the equipment

As you can see, we found more pros and less cons for Get Up. This is most probably because I was biased and put Harry in an awkward position. Nevertheless, this is what we came out with. We thought it would be easier to film and create a website for an existing band that we have access to the members because we can be more creative with the website and have more freedom when it comes to filming. Plus, we will not have to create our own makeshift band and find all the instruments needed!

Now we will watch other videos for techniques and see if we can come up with any ideas. (This will be blogged in an analysis of 3 videos each later on.)

A2 Media production. Text Analysis.

This music video is for the R&B group 112 (Pronounced One-Twelve) It is for the song "What If" which was released in 2005.
The video is built up of narrative and performance elements. It is a complex narrative type of music video. The band members all feature through out the narrative, as well as with in the performance element of the video.
The setting for this music video is in California. The performance element mainly sticks to an under lit road underneath a bridge. That is where all the band stand as four and perform. For the narrative side to the music video, the setting is in a town or neighbourhood which is brightly lit up and a big comparison the performance element. The narrative is outside in the open, during the day and colourful, the performance element is enclosed, at night, and very under lit. However there is also performing by the band members during the narrative. This is post modern because it shows the product is aware of its construction, as the band members are breaking the set lines of reality by singing along to a song that is non-diegetic inside the video. This is proved at the start of the video as the music dies down slightly in sound and the diegetic sounds of the girlfriend crying as she runs away and mike chasing her shouting become louder.

During the narrative elements in the video, the camerawork is similar to that off a television programme such as drama based programmes. This is because the narrative is itself dramatic and the director wanted to show it to the audience as serious rather then part of a music video. During both the narrative and the performance elements of the video, there are many close ups of the band singing. This is conventional of the music video and shows that despite this music video showing unconventional traits ,such as a complex narrative, it is still a music video itself. During the performance side to the video, there are also frequent mid shots of the band all together performing. This is again conventional of the music video genre as it is promoting band image, by showing all four of the members looking stylish and showing off their success through there material wealth, such as nice clothes and jewellery. This is also conventional of the musical styles genre of music videos.

During the performance side to the video, the location has switched to an inner city site rather then a quiet neighbourhood that is shown in the narrative performance side of the video. In this inner city location, it is extremely underlie and the brightest and most colourful things seen at this point are the four band members dressed in all white and the occasional emergency siren flash. This matches the narrative at this point as there is also emergency sirens playing a part in the narrative story. This could be seen as postmodern because it shows a clear link between the narrative and performance elements in that they are performing on a crash scene which is what happens in the narrative. However in the narrative, we clearly see that the band members do not know each other, as when their characters come into contact with each other (Mike running to his wife while Q plays a Doctor) they do not act any different or show any recognition of the other person. There are no special effects used during the video. This is because the director wanted to give a realistic effect to the narrative, to make it seem just like day-to-day life.

The main theme and idea of the video is that a man comes home to his wife, who has found out he has cheated. She then proceeds to run away and get into a vehicle to leave him, but as she is driving while crying she eventually crashes her car while her partner pursues her. This however isn't revealed till the end because it is revealed while the suspense and drama reaches its climax. There is a clear match between the lyrics and the visual aspects of the video. Almost all of the lyrics can be related to the video.

The majority of symbolic elements in the video are mainly to do with showing wealth and success of the band. For example during the narrative, big expensive trucks are what the main actors drive. This shows wealth and success. Another example from the narrative side of the video is how mike and his girlfriend have, at the time, top of the range mobile phones. During the performance side, there are many close ups of all the band members dressed in all white suits wearing fancy jewellery, this again shows wealth and success. This features heavily in this type of music's conventions and this video does not differ from these symbolic elements.

Looking at the editing, there are many slow fades between the narrative and performance sides of the video. This shows a clear distinction between the two and clears all possible link with each other. However this does not change the pace of the video as despite using slow fades, the actual footage in each part goes at a quick pace. There is also a usage of slow motion effects a few times through out the video. This is only in the narrative side of the video, but this is because this technique is used by the director to add tension and drama to the narrative.

The performers are all members of the group 112. With exception to the female lead. All four band members appear in the narrative playing different roles. Mike plays the lead character. Slim appears second in a car next to Mike when they are stopped because of an accident. Q plays a paramedic treating the female lead and Daron plays the person she crashed into. Interestingly, the lead singer does not play the main character. All of the verses are sung by Slim who plays a minor role in the narrative. What is more interesting and very postmodern is that during the narrative we see Slim singing the song which is at the time non-diegetic sound to the characters in the narrative. This is postmodern because it shows that the media construction did not follow to the strict guidelines of realistic and fiction. What is more postmodern is that just after this scene, Mike then runs to his injured girlfriend and then proceeds to sing the song despite him not even singing it really. Again this questions the reality of the narrative but also it is strange because it shows a music video where not only is the real singer singing, but also the band member with him who does not sing that part, but does play lead in the narrative, also then goes on to sing the part that Slim does not sing. Meanwhile in any of the purely performance parts of the music video, it shows a mid shot of the whole band singing, then alternates by showing a close up of one of the four singing.

Overall, there is a clear moral to this song and video, it shows a story which basically means that people should stay faithful in relationships. It is a good moral because R&B music is too often stereotyped as negative towards women. It leaves a sad feeling for the audience as right at the end, the viewer discovers that the girlfriend died from the accident.