Music Video - Forms And Conventions (Andrew Goodwin)

Andrew Godwin - Dancing In The Distraction Factory

 

Andrew Godwin came up with key features:

• Relationship between the lyrics and visuals.
  (Illustrates, amplifies, or contradicts the lyrics)
  
  e.g (otis) - at 0.46 "Popping bottles, putting supermodels in the car"...we see a custom and maybach with kanye west and jayz inside with 3 models. The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals is pretty strong and evident in this video. For example when the lysics said "poppign bottles, putting supermodels in the car" we see that jayz and kanye are have a lot of fun, they are smilling, laughing and dancing. This  can be related to the lyrics as people normally "pop bottlle" of wine and champagne when they are happy and have something to celebrate. So the relation ship betwen these two are very clear in most music video. Most lyrics in a song or music video express feelings and these feelings are normally shown in the music video. It can be shown through facial expression, actions or through colour. For example if the video is just in black and white then it normally shows or emphasises a sad or upset feeling.

 

Jay-z and Kanye West - Otis 

Another example of the relationship between lyrics and visuals are found in the music video "Money to blow" by Birdman, Drake and Lil Wayne.

When Lil wayne says "Come to VIP, and get a champagne shower", we see a short clip of bird man popping a bottle of champagne and spraying it everywhere. Another example is when Birdman say, "Higher than the ceiling, fly like a bird" we see a shot of a white bird flying of a pile of money.

• Relationship between music and visuals.
  (Illustrates, amplifies or contradicts the lyrics)
  
  e.g (all of the lights) - at 0.35 for about 15 seconds, every 4 beats there is a transition in a different setting. This can also be seen i nother music videos, such as
  Missy Elliot - Lose control, where the beat in the music flows very well with the visuals with very quick transitions. So for example if the drum beat when from slow to fast or there is some sort of drum fill then this would be shown through the visuals.

Kanye West - All Of The Lights

• Particular music genres have their own music video style and iconography
  
  Different music genres will have there own style of videos and there codes and conventions will vary. For example in rap music, you'll see a lot of gold chains, flashy cars and girls.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Whereas in pop video you'll see a lot of colourful clothings and dancers.
  
  

• Demand on the part of the record company of a lot of close up on the main artist/vocalistI think this is seen in almost if not every music video. There i s no doubt that there is a demand on the part of the record company of a lot of closes on the main artist. For example in Alaxandra Stan - Millionaire, there are many clips of close up, this is seen especially when there trying to promote an upcoming artist.

These shots help raise the profiles of these new artists. There are many artists who's music videos contain a number of close ups, for example drake, rihanna, nicki minaj and professor green.

• The artist may develop there ownstyle of iconography in it out of there videos which over time becomes part of there star image

Here is a music video by Lady Gaga, who over the few years has developed her own style of iconography both in and out of her videos. For example at awards shows, shes known for wearing the craziest outfits, from meat dresses to boxes. This can be seen as a good and bad thing in the eyes of people and music lovers. Although in most cases her outfits do not reflect her style of music, she is seen as a very unique artist and character.

 Here is the meat dress lady gaga wore to the VMA 2010 awards.

Another example of lady gaga creating her own style of iconography is in the video "The Edge Of Glory". We can see that everything from make up to clothing is some thing that people may see as weird but she has a reputation for not only dressing in obscured ways in her videos but also out sire her videos.

• Likely to be a reference to voyerism particularly in the treatmeant of women. But also in terms of systems of looking.

In this video we see Nicki minaj and mamny other women dressed in carnival clothing, this could be a reference to voyerism as

http://prezi.com/zgvlmrn0wc1s/andrew-goodwins-music-video-theory/
http://www.slideshare.net/guestc6d43a4a/andrew-goodwins-theory

Music Video Analysis - Eminem (Stan)

Textual Analysis of Music Video

Introduction

The music video i will be analysing is Eminem - Stan ft Dido. The video was directed by 45 king. The genre the music in the music video belongs to is RAP. The characteristics of rap that the video has is a rapper (eminem) rapping to an instrumental, which is shown in the video. 

 Eminem - Stan ft Dido (Lyrics)

What is the relationship between the lyrics and visuals?

 

In most music video there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, this can be seen in the Eminem's music video. For example at 2:12, Stan says "Dear slim, i wrote you but you still aint called yet" while his saying this his is writing out the letter in the video. so we as an audience know what he is writing and feeling.

As the song goes on we see that Stan and Eminem have some things in common, for  example both their girlfriends are pregnant. Stan see's this as a way of connecting with Eminem. This could be seen through both the lyrics and the visuals. 2:29, " What's been up man, hows your daughter? My girlfriend's pregnant too, I'm bout to be a father
If I have a daughter, guess what I'm a call her? I'm a name her Bonnie. I read about your Uncle Ronnie too I'm sorry, I had a friend kill himself over some ***** who didn't want him"

Also at 3:34, the lyrics says "but you could have signed an autograph for Matthew, that's my little brother man his only six years old, we waited in the blistering cold for you for 4hours and you just said no".
At this point of the video we see Stan and his little bro at a concert look up  at Eminem, emphasising that they both look up to him and he is their idols. We then see them out side in the cold waiting anxiously for Eminem and when he does come out Eminem is pulled away by security but Stan see's it in a different way.

At 4:09 the lyrics "i even got a tattoo with your name across my chest". We see Stan sitting on a chair with a tattoo artist writing the words 'Slim Shady' on his chest. This shows us that Stan's obsession with Eminem is growing and slowly getting out of hand.

At 5:47 Stan says "i ripped all your pictures off my wall" and we see him ripping pictures with anger one by one. The lyrics are amplified by the actions of stan at this point of the video. At this part of this video his releasing his pain and feelings towards Eminem and we start to see that his losing it.

What is the relationship between music and visuals?

Most of the video cuts to the beat. For example in most cases there is a transition to a different clip every 4 beats. The pace of the video cuts depend on the mood of the rapper. For example when Stan is calm the video cuts are slow but when he starts to get frustrated and then angry the pace of the cuts increase rapidly.

"You ruined it now, I hope you can't sleep and you dream about it. And when you dream I hope you can't sleep and you scream about it, I hope your conscience eats at you and you can't breathe without me, See Slim,  Shut up *****! I'm tryin' to talk!"

 








Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?

The record company is looking to sell the track through track sale online, albums and even through downloading the video. Other ways in which the record companies can promote the track is also through tours and concerts.

Here is the album cover for Eminem Stan.

The image that is being offered of the artist is that many people look up to him and love his music. This is can be seen to some people as odd, maybe because of the type of person Eminem is and his lyrical content. He is known for his violent, and weird lyrics.

There is not really any relation to any previous music video for example toy soldiers, he did not do a story type video but he just rapped to a beat and performed a bit.

But eminem is known a lot for his acting in his music videos, especially in "without me".

Is there reference to the notion of looking?

In this music video there is not a lot of referencing to looking. The only time when there is a  reference to looking is when Stan looks at the pictures which he has pasted all over his room

Are there inter-textual references?

Is the music video performance base, narrative based or concept base?

The music video is both performance base abd narrative base as a story is being told of a obsessive fan and how the fan takes things to far, but there are also a few bits of video performance.

Research on Camera Work...

Here i decided to do some research on the type of camera shots and angles used in music videos. Camera shots and angles are very important when it comes to videos as they are used to get there point or message across. For example is the actor/artist was up set a long shot would not be as effective as a close up or mid shot. The use of these shots and angles are to put us the audience into the artist shoes, it can also allow us to relate to their feeling. Also different shot and are very important in music video especially in certain music genres for example rap or RnB. The use of angles , tracking shots are used to, especially when it comes the super cars, houses and girls that the artist has. Here are a few angles and shots that are used:

 

Music Video's (Analysis)

In class we brainstormed things that came under music videos or things we will have to consider and research if we were making a music video.

Here is what we came up with: 

• Different camera shots and angles
• Target audience (UK tribes)
• Types of lighting techniques
• Casting
• Relationship between the music genre and setting different video's
• (Genre) setting/location - recce shots
• Compare several different music videos
• Lyrics
• Existing music video - analysis - editing - camera shots - camera movement
• Research how to use final cut
• Types of editing
• Effects you like
• Institutional context (who will publish)
• Composition
• Iconic music Videos 
• Settings
• Clothing

Brief

Briefs

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

• a website homepage for the band;
• a cover for its release as part of the digipak (CD/DVD package);
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).