Visual ideas for my song choice

These are the lyrics for my chosen song; I have written some ideas around the lyrics to give some visual ideas of what could be in my music video.

Music Video Analysis-H'two'O

The final music video I have chosen to analyse is 'What's it gonna be' by HtwoO and Platinum. The genre of their music is dance and therefore I have chosen it to use different genres in all the videos I analyse.

The music video opens with what can be recognised as the front of a school, college or university building. The name of the song and the artist are then put on screen in what looks like a logo sign, which then lets the audience know that the location is a school and also the information about the song. The audience will know that it is set in a school because schools have logos on uniforms and colleges and universities don't have uniforms.

At the start of the video the music begins straight away, which is quite unusual for music videos as the music tends to start a few seconds into the video.

The shot then cuts to inside the building in a classroom, where students are entering. Close ups are used on two people, which instantly lets the audience know that these are the artists and the narrative has began. They acknowledge each other showing they are familiar with one another.

The singer is then seen miming the song in a building presumably in the school which looks like the library from the books.
This shot then cuts back to the classroom where a tall, attractive female enters the classroom alone, in slow motion. This is done to emphasise her attractiveness and her attention from the males in the classroom. This is then backed up as the male artist is seen 'checking out' the girl entering the classroom. The female artist then looks in the direction of the male giving a livid look, suggesting she in a relationship with him or she is interested in him.

When the beat kicks in the scene totally changes to back outside the building where four people (two boys and two girls) begin to break dance to the beat. The song starts with the chorus rather then the first verse. This is fairly usual for dance songs.
When the singing begins the shot of the female artist in the library is used again with her miming and also the male artist is seen in the same location also miming.
These short shots are seen again of the break dancers and the artists and the attractive female.

In the classroom the teacher enters, and the students throw paper at him, suggesting they are disobedient and the teacher isn't very strict. Also the guy is still seen looking at the attractive female with her also giving him attention. It is now known by the lyrics in the song that both artists have been in a previous relationship, suggesting why she gave him a certain look at the beginning.
The camera then pans around the classroom showing the audience the different characters in the room, for example the geek, the 'cool' kid etc.

The break dancing is seen again outside the school this time with the 'geeky' guy previously seen in the classroom. Shots between the different break dancers are used during the chorus in a shot reverse shot pattern.

When the second verse begins the male artist is singing and is therefore in the location of the library, miming to the song. The break dancers and classroom shots are also used during the verse.
He is seen falling asleep in class where he begins to dream about the attractive female dancing for him, making the audience see he 'fancies' her and may end up in a relationship. The female is wearing bra and knickers with a shirt showing his sexual attraction to her.
The female artist also begins to sing and mime to the song.

At the end of this verse a new female artist who has not yet been seen in the video is introduced in the library. Whilst this is going on short shots of all the artist's and the narrative are seen, as well as the boy waking up from his dream to find his teacher dancing instead of the girl.

When the singing takes back over the scene has a total change from the classroom to what looks like a theatre because of the stage and piano. The female artist is also singing directly to the male artist, expressing her feelings, instead of the usual place of the library.
Also the narrative has a happy ending like in the video Trust, as the male artist disregards the attractive female suggesting the relationship between both artists is still there.

From this point until the end of the song short shots are used again of both artists miming in the library and students break dancing.

Overall this video also has a combination of performance-based because the artists are miming directly to the camera and narrative-based as it has a story within the video relating to the lyrics. This is therefore similar to the music video 'Trust'.

Music Video Analysis-Keyshia Cole

The second music video I have chosen to analyse is 'Trust' by Keyshia Cole and Monica. It has an R&B genre and is slow song.

The opening shot of the music video is a large cream mansion with is straight away known to be in Tuscany, Italy as this is written across the bottom of the screen. Sound of birds 'chirping' can be heard making the scene feel calm and happy. The sound of the birds is continued through each shot known as a sound bridge until the melody begins.

The first straight cut shot is of the artist, Keyshia sat down, looking rather unhappy and looking down at her phone suggesting she is waiting for someone to get in touch. Her being unhappy is fairly strange as the singing birds make the audience think it should be a happy or calm mood. The artist is then seen looking out the window after the front door to the house is opened, indicating that she may not want them to leave. This is the point the music begins, suggesting the narrative is beginning. She is then seen again, this time on the phone ringing someone.
At this point the second artist, Monica is introduced as a shot of her is seen on the phone; it is clear that they are close friends as they use nicknames for each other, showing they have known each other for a long time.

While on the phone Keyshia says 'I've been thinking about this guy', at this point a shot of a guy who is leaving the house is seen, indicating who she is talking about.
Also whilst on the phone a shot reverse shot pattern is used between the artists, also the shot of Keyshia looking down at the phone is used emphasising the time she is waiting for the phone to ring.

At the end of the conversation Keyshia says 'I just feel like', at this point the beat and song begins with her miming, however she is not looking directly at the camera but it is a side shot of her. This is effective because it makes the audience feel her emotion without her having to look directly at you; this is something many people do when telling their emotions as they can't face the person directly.

The shot of the guy leaving and her watching is used again, really emphasising the connection and feelings between them. In one shot the guy is seen from the front rather then the back as previously seen. As she says 'Don't you run from me, baby', he is seen walking away from the house, suggesting a break up.
She is then seen again miming the song, this time the shot is face on, however she is still not looking at the camera, highlighting her emotion.

A shot of her in the bath is then seen before she is accompanied by the guy, most likely to be the past. Both of them are happy showing the audience how content the relationship was.
This is then cut to Keyshia again sat down, however in a medium close up shot where the phone is no longer visible. She is looking directly at the camera, not miming but looking really sad before slowly lowering her head; this is really effective as the audience is really feeling her emotion.
Instead of the usual straight cut, the shot is faded out to black before another shot of her miming is faded in.
The shot of her in the bath with the guy is used again using the fade out to black.

The next shot introduces Monica who is also sat down in a medium shot, with two other people in the shot. The two unknown people in the shot are sat closer to the right of the camera, with their backs facing the audience. This could suggest that she is in a public place or are friends of hers.

Monica is also miming the song and again isn't looking at the camera, however she has more eye contact then Keyshia suggesting she is trying to give advice to her and be strong for her. A shot reverse shot pattern is used between both artists as though they are talking to each other with the lyrics in the song.

Just before the chorus of the song begins a short shot of a candle holder with lit candles is seen before quickly fading out. This is used because the next shot of Keyshiais used in the same location as the candle, which can be recognised because of the paintings on the walls in both shots.
The colour in the shot is fairly white/ yellow as though representing the candles as they are the same colour.

Also in the shot of Keyshia and then Monica they are both looking at the camera a lot more and are both dressed differently suggesting that they are not apart of the narrative but are performing.
In the chorus another shot of Keyshia with the guy is used again from the past, but this time they are seen sat together 'playing' around and again looking happy. However in one shot of them together it is seen that she answers the phone and is protective of him not looking at who it is, which makes the audience understand how the guy must feel, especially relating it to the song lyrics and meaning of his trust.
The shot then cuts back to Keyshia who is sat in the place as the beginning of the video, again not looking at the camera each time the words 'I need you', are sang, emphasising her need for him back.

Throughout the chorus shots between Keyshia, Monica and the past shots are all straight cut, short shots, which coincides with the pace of the music as it speeds up.
Towards the end of the song both the artists are seen together for the first time miming the song again performing to the audience.

As the song is coming to an end the narrative side of the video is used again and the shot of the guy leaving with Keyshia watching him go is used again, emphasising her pain again.
Shots between the narrative and the performance are used in pace with the music in short shots.

At the end of the song it is seen that the guy comes back, which makes the audience happy after feeling all the sad emotion through the song.

Overall the music video is a combination of performance-based, with the artists miming the song to the camera, narrative-based as there is a story within the video which counterpart with the song, and finally abstract-based as it really creates a mood and emotion that the audience feel through listening to the song and watching the video.

Music Video Analysis- Kings of Leon

The first music video and song I have chosen to analyse is 'Use somebody' by Kings of Leon. The genre of the bands music is indie/rock. The genre can be identified by the audience when the music begins, as it has the strong, hard beat familiar to rock.

There is a 30 second instrumental at the start of song; during which fast, short shots of the band, cities and an aeroplane are seen. The shots could be short to indicate that all of these things are a part of the past.
The shots of the band is actual tour footage and they can be seen in live performances, this is used to indicate that they are an authentic band who play their own music and instruments as seen in the footage. This is emphasised by close ups of the band in performance.

There are also shots of cities used to highlight the fact that they were on tour and travelling. These were also fast shots and used many different camera shots, for example: panning shots, long shots and birds eye view shots.
There is also a shot of an aeroplane, again emphasising that the band were on tour. Between all the shots, straight cuts were used.

After 30 seconds a fade out, fade in shot is used in that the shot of the city is faded out whilst the shot of the lead singer is gradually fading in. A close up of the singer is used as he begins miming the song. When the line 'You know that I can use somebody' is sang the first shot of the singer is straight cut to a shot of him and a woman. The shot is very short, suggesting that it is a flashback of past times.
The audience is able to recognise that it is the main singer in the shot although their faces aren't seen because of his necklace, which is seen in the shot.
During the first verse of the song a shot reverse shot pattern is used between shots and the lead singer. Again the shots are short and are of the band in concert, but there is also shots of each member of the band individually. This allows the audience to see and become familiar with all members of the band.

At the start of the chorus the colour of the shot is instantly turned black and white again indicating the past. The shots are the same again of the band in concert, however they are now singing the song for the music video. They are also seen doing everything they do in preparation for the concert including: arriving at the venue, in the dressing room, on stage, looking at the arena before concert and having fun. This again is actual footage of the band; this lets the audience see the band as they are and get a sense of their personalities. The KOL logo is used frequently, which allows fans and the audience to recognise the artists instantly.

On the final verse, instead of going back to the close of the lead singer in colour, the shot is kept black and white and keeps using actual footage of the concert.
More short shots are used however this time they switch between concert footage, which is black and white, and shots of the band on a night out in a bar and also in concert which is in colour. This again allows the audience to get a sense of the bands personality by seeing them when not performing. Also by using black and white and colour on certain shots, it shows the difference between the past and present.

A shot of the singer and the woman are used again however they are seen kissing, also a shot of another band member and a woman is seen emphasising the songs meaning of them needing someone to love.

As the song comes closer to the finish the shots become shorter and shorter, which could be used to symbolise the increasing need for a woman.
The close up shot of the lead singer is used again when the line 'someone like you' is sang again emphasising the need, along with long shots of him each time the line is used.

The first line of the song is also used as the last line and the close up shot of the lead singer is used again, like at the beginning of the song.

The music video is a performance video as it has the lead singer miming and therefore performing the song to the camera. Overall I think this is a fairly typical video for the genre of the music as a lot of rock music videos tend to use actual footage as part of their videos as apposed to pop videos.

Music videos-LIIAR

The purposes of music videos

Language- Language is used to communicate to the audience through cinematography, lighting, mise en scene and clothing.
In music videos close up shots are always used on the artist so the audience is aware of who is singing the song. This is important because the audience expects to see the artist on screen in order to give them voyeuristic pleasure.
A lot of music videos also feature at least one of the aspects of performance, narrative, lyrical interpretation, abstract and lyrical representation.
It is very typical that an artist will use performance in their video a they tend to mime in their videos, which is an aspect of performance.
Some music videos will also have a narrative in that they tell a story like in 'Run Away Love' by Mary J Blige.
'Sledge Hammer' by Peter Gabriel is a good example of lyrical representation as the words in the song are represented by images used on screen. It is also an example of abstract video as it creates a sense of feel and mood.
Artists in videos are always wearing fashionable clothes for the simple reason that audiences will then want to imitate and also to get a sense of what the artist is like and the genre of their music. By this I mean that if the genre of the music is heavy metal it is likely that the artist will be wearing black clothes and dark makeup around their eyes as this is iconic for artists under this genre.
Lighting is also used to set a scene as in the video 'Trust', which I analysed as in one scene the lighting is faily dark and the mood is sad which is portrayed by the artist.

Ideology- The aims and ideas of music videos is to allow the audience to be able to view their favourite artists on screen. This is to give the audience satisfaction of viewing the artist without having to be at a live concert. However they are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. They are also used in able for the artist to ‘show off’ their skills.

Institution- A music video is made by the record company of the artist in order to promote the new song and make money.
Black eyed peas are signed to two record labels; Interscope records and A&M records, although A&M is merged into Interscope. Interscope was formerly known to be a label which dealt with hip-hop and R&B music, however nowadays they have broadened their genre in music in order to attract a larger target audience.
A&M was an independent record label and became the worlds largest independent record company. Over the years, A&M added specialty imprints: Almo International for middle of the road; Omen Records (1964–1966) for soul; Horizon Records for jazz (1974–1978); AyM Discos for Latin-American; Vendetta Records for dance music (1988–1990); and Tuff Break Records for hip-hop music. This also broadened their target audience as these labels introduced different genres.
The Black Eyed Peas are a very famous group and are known world wide and have had many number one singles. The record company is also having great success in promoting their artists songs through music videos.

I have decided to change my song choice to 'I don't wanna be' by Gavin Degraw who is an aritist of J Records and Sony Music Entertainment which is the parent of J Records.
SME is one of the major four labels along with Universal, Warner and EMI. It was founded in 1929 and has many subsidiary labels. It is a very successful record company hence why it is one of the four major labels.
Gavin Degraw is a singer-songwriter and muscian who is most known for his single 'I don't wanna be', which is featured on the US hit drama 'One Tree Hill'.
He is an artist of both SME and J Records. He has also had success with other singles which are also featured in films.

Audience- I think music videos have a fairly small target audience because they tend to reach out to a certain age group. I would say music videos reach out to people aged between 15 and 20, because at this age music artists are looked up to similarly like a role model. Music videos are very modern in that they use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. This is why I think music videos appeal to a younger audience because the effects and graphics are so much more advanced than when music videos were first introduced, and much more explicit. Therefore they don’t appeal to an older audience because the effect and graphics don’t interest them as much as younger audiences because they have lived through music videos of their time.


Representation-I think music videos have many different representations of people including their gender, age and race, depending on the genre of the music. For example:
In hip hop and rap, many of the lyrics and images portray women of all ethnicity's as sexual objects. The image of dozens of semi-naked women dancing provocatively around a rapper has become standard in music videos.
Ludacris’ song and video “Pimping All Over the World” is a good example of hatred towards women in hip hop. The lyrics list women off like possessions: “The fancy cars, the women and the caviar.” Further, the singer dismisses the woman’s protests that he uses her for sex by saying that he takes her places.
Also the women in hip hop music videos are always young attractive women, with very little clothing on. This isn’t a true representation of women because not all women in society look like women in music videos.
On the other hand in music videos by female artists like the Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears, Beyonce and much more, they often wear revealing clothing. This therefore increases the representations of women portrayed in hip hop music videos, because female artists also portray themselves as sex symbols by wearing inappropriate clothing in their music videos.
Also in some music videos ethnicity is represented in certain ways. Jay-z’ video ‘Run This Town’ has a majority of black people if not all. The video I think influences gang violence as it features mobs of gangs holding large sticks on fire, with the lyrics ‘Who’s going to run this town tonight’. This portrays them to be violent and indicates gang violence within America, as this is where the music video takes place.

History of music videos

A music video is a short video/film used to promote music or songs. By using a music video it allows the audience to view the star or artist, giving them voyeuristic pleasure and the artist to promote their new song. Voyeuristic pleasure means that the audience gets pleasure from watching their favourite artists on screen, without having to see them in person. This is also known as audience gratification; a need in the audience in that they want to see their favourite singers on screen as this gives them voyeuristic pleasure.

According to the Encarta Encyclopaedia, “Music is the organized movement of sounds through a continuum of time. Music plays a role in all societies and it exists in a large number of styles, each characteristic of a geographical region or a historical era.

In 1964, The Beatles cemented their newfound international fame by starring in their first feature film A Hard Days Night, directed by Richard Lester. The feature film was shot in black and white and included some songs of the Beatles. During the songs the Beatles would be on screen ‘joking’ around, allowing the audience to view them and listen to them at the same time, introducing the voyeuristic pleasure.

The Beatles at this time were highly famous and well known for their music and writing their own songs and in order to promote their career even more they made a feature film.

Film critic Robert Ebert credits Lester with constructing "a new grammar":

“... he influenced many other films. Today when we watch TV and see quick cutting, hand-held cameras, interviews conducted on the run with moving targets, quickly intercut snatches of dialogue, music under documentary action and all the other trademarks of the modern style, we are looking at the children of A Hard Day's Night".

The Beatles' second feature Help! (1965) was shot in colour and had more direct audience address. They used miming (Mickey mousing) in the songs and related what the were doing to the purpose or meaning of the song, rather then doing nothing related to the song as in A Hard Day’s Night.

Feature films became very famous after being introduced by the Beatles.

Bob Dylan another well known artist who also wrote his own songs starred in a documentary of his Don’t Look Back Tour in 1965. His song Subterranean Homesick Blues featured him on screen with words in his song written on paper boards. This was very different to the Beatles feature film as Bob Dylan’s documentary focused more on the words in his song. He did this because of social protest at the time and his songs expressed objection to the condition of the American society.

On August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m., MTV: Music Television launched with the words "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll," spoken by John Lack. Those words were immediately followed by the original MTV theme song, a crunching guitar riff written by Jonathan Elias and John Petersen, playing over a montage of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

The first song to be aired was Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles, and in 1982 Michael Jackson released Thriller, which sold more than 25 million copies, becoming the biggest-selling album in history.

In 1996 Janet Jackson becomes the highest-paid musician in history when she signs an $80-million deal with Virgin Records.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video

http://ezinearticles.com/?Some-History-Facts-on-Music-Videos&id=85854

http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0151192.html