After all of our research we have decided to pick OneRepublic- If I lose myself (Pop Rock)
I stared up at the sun
Thought of all other people, places and things I've loved
I stared up just to see
Of all other faces, you are the one next to me
You can feel the light start to tremble
Washing what you know out the sea yeah
You can see your life out of the window, tonight
If I lose myself tonight
It'll be by your side
If I lose myself tonight (whoa, whoa, whoa)
If I lose myself tonight
It'll be you and I
Lose myself tonight
I woke up with the sun
Thought of all other people, places and things I've loved
I woke up just to see
Of all other faces you were the one next to me
You can feel the light start to tremble
Washing what you know out the sea yeah
You can see your life out of the window, tonight
If I lose myself tonight
It'll be by your side
If I lose myself tonight (whoa, whoa, whoa)
If I lose myself tonight
It'll be you and I
Lose myself tonight (whoa)
Whoo
Oh ooh
Take us down and we keep trying
40, 000 feet keep flying
Take us down and we keep trying
40, 000 feet keep flying
Take us down and we keep trying
40, 000 feet keep flying
Take us down and we keep trying
40, 000 feet keep flying
Lose myself
If I lose myself tonight
Hoo hoo ooh
Hoo hoo ooh
Learning Comments
We decided to pick this song because of the variety of the song. We chose it because it has lots of instrumental parts which would mean we could create a narrative in these bits. It also makes lip syncing easier as we can focus on it more if there is slightly less. There is a constant beat which would help with editing as it could fit to the cuts. The lyrics can also be adapted to make an ahieveable narrative as they are quite open lyrics. This means we can experiment with different narratives so we aren't tied down to one idea. Furthermore the ending isn't abrupt and slows down which could help end the narrative and overall performance of the music video. Although it is sung by a band we thought that it would still look professional if there was only one singer due to the genre of the music so we wouldn't have to get a band together- this means we only need to reply on one person.
Learning Comments
By creating a presentation of our potential ideas its helped with our final outcome. This is because we wrote out our song choices and listened to them. We then analysed them with good points and bad points which we wrote down. Then we established which was the better choice to use as we had all the information down that would help us to decide. We looked at six different songs and we pulled them out until we had one to chose. We finally decided that we would pick "If I lose myself" by OneRepublic as we struggled to find any bad points and we really enjoyed the song. By analysing the song it also came apparent that it would be a fairly easy song to create a music video for.
From the interview we have learnt that she watches the latest videos on TV and YouTube so it would make sense if we put our video on YouTube as thats where we expect people to find them. Secondly creating a suitable narrative is important as they said that it gives purpose to the music video. She also mentioned that she liked the use of special effects which we could consider. Generally from what they were saying they preferred an action based music video. Lastly they don't download them to their device but they do watch them later. This is a subjective video so by filming again would give us a wider variety of knowledge of what our audience wants.
(Task 2)
Things to consider from this task are that how people can view a music video can be a variety of ways. Our main concern is not to create any moral panic or for an audience to reject our music video based on cultural and ethical morals. It would be more beneficial to create a video for identity, education, entertain or social interaction purposes. Furthermore to create a video that can be interpreted only based on good morals so it won't be passive.
(Task 3)
This is the video that they watched of a previous students work.
From hearing from a focus group I found out that they enjoyed the music video because of the relevance of the song and the prolonged storyline which kept them interested. This might mean that we consider a more narrative based music video if it becomes more interesting to our audience. Also the variety of places that they filmed helped keep the audience captivated. They felt that the ending was good as it ended the video well, another thing to consider is a big ending. By doing this video we have a wider variety of knowledge of what people like to see in a music video by students which is very specific.
Some more things to consider with these music is the use of post-production digital effects which are special effects which are conventional for music videos. Secondly lighting was used to create different atmospheres like for the dance/ electronic it was very bright and some of the other videos were darker to help show the theme. Lastly the camera movement as the camera followed the people using a dolly when they were either walking, running or dancing.
(Task 2)
Clean Bandit & Jess Glynne- Real Love
This music video is predominately performance based with only a few other scenes of couples that were fans of Jess Gylnne. The performance is in a studio lip syncing and then it progresses to her on a big stage with her band. The couples in the music video represent what she is singing about as they are in love however there isn't a narrative as such they just get shown in quick cuts kissing each other or smiling. She is singing about "Real love" in the song and the couples represent this as they are being romantic to each other. However the rest of the video is just her with her band. It is quick an emotional song and the actors help re-enact this. The Vernallis theory defiantly complies to this as its an appearance of a narrative rather than delivering one. This is also very illustrative as the visuals in the music video provide a literal representation of what the artist is singing about even though its not a narrative, its very simplistic and easy to read by an audience. Finally this video is conceptual as it creates a mood which is romantic rather than a narative of, for example, a love story.
Justin Timberlake- Mirrors
For the majority of the video it was all narrative based, in this version which is the extended version Justin Timberlake only come in right near the end and starts to lip sync till the end. The narrative was inspired by his grandparents marriage which links to what he is singing about. The narrative is about a couple and how they met and how the progress but it mainly set in a bedroom. There are also present features of them when they are older. The video is focused on the couple until the end where Justin dances and lip syncs till the end but it is in a mirrored room which again represents what he is singing about. This goes against Vernallis theory due to the long narrative that is show in this video, its very apparent that there is a story going on. This is amplifying narrative due to the repetition of the key meaning in the video which is the couple and their relationship.
Disclosure- Latch
This music video is all narrative based with no performance in it, the artists are not even included into the video. There is also no lip syncing. The video is about couples flirting and embracing each other, there are a total of three couples who are all situated in different places. The lyrics match the narrative as they are talking about "I wont let go of you" and "wrapped up in your touch" so they are singing about the couples. The narrate takes place all in one night so its a short narative and there is only 3 main locations where the scenes are filmed so its easy to understand the narrative. There is defiantly a narrative which is illustrative due to the themes demonstrated clearly.
Wake & Odyssey vs R. Kelly- Bump and Grind
This music is a really interesting video as it is a narrative with no performance in however the actors are reacting to the music but not lip syncing, again the artists are not shown in the video. However the narrative is based on one man and it has nothing to do with what the lyrics are. It is about one man who dances to the song when he puts some perfume on which is a very short, bland narrative. Although the narrative is not foreshadowing the lyrics the song still works as its a dance song and the actors are dancing in it so a strong narrative doesn't really matter. This is a very clear example of a disjuncture as the meaning of the song is completed ignored as the narrative is nothing to do with the lyrics. However this is typical for this type of genre as it usually has people dancing in it as its lively, so it makes sense that it doesn't always represent to what the lyrics are.
Duke Dumount- Ocean Drive
The video is similar to the one above as the narrative does not match the lyrics of the song. There is also no performance in this music video. This video is very interesting though because although the narrative is different to the lyrics they appear on the screen the whole way throat the video. The video is actually focused on a group of young girls who go out a lot. I feel like this has no relevance at all and due to the song I feel like the narrative is put of place. This is a confusing example of narrative as it could be contradicting, illustrative or even disjunctive as some of the lyrics are represented like "driving down the boulevard"which they do and some are ignored like "going through red lights" but they don't do that. Also are contradicted with some of the narrative that happens as it does the opposite like the theme of revenge but they actors look happy.
(Task 3)
In this music video there is the use of shucker which is the representation of women in the nature of the gaze which are usually constructed for the male viewer of these texts even though the women in this video has tried to prevent this to make it more for women viewers which is contradicting. This is also what Laura Mulvey theory which is that women have been made to look this way for a heterosexual man and now how we create a perception of women. This is then the stereotypes of "men act, women appear" which is versallis theory which could be an exaggeration.
Learning Comments
From completing this task I have gained information from other music videos that I could apply to mine. For example I have learnt that not all music videos have narratives and performances, they can be a mixture or include neither. They still look effective either way. This also applies to different genres for example usually pop songs are narrative based and dance music is quite performance based. When I pick my genre I can take this into consideration. Furthermore the theories helped with understanding the structure of a music video, representation of people and codes and conventions which I can apply to my video to make it look like a recognisable stereotypical music video. Lastly by analysing music videos I could see what makes a video look effective by the use of camera angles, editing, mise en scene, the location and even post production effects.
This music video is an A grade. They used lighting really well on a very good quality camera and the camera follows the action to make it look effective. There is really believable acting by all actors and the actors in the location match what they are acting about as its all relevant. They used a time lapse and different focuses which looks effective and professional and the lip syncing is matched perfectly. The different fast and slow shots work very well to the music furthermore the use of simple short videos to complete the video looks really good. The clothes are fairy bland which works very well as it doesn't draw too much attention away and doesn't look informal and make up looks very real e.g. fake blood. They didn't make a completed narrative so it was easy to follow and match. At the end the video fades into black for a couple of seconds and it looks like an actual music video because of this. This particular music video got full marks which is an A grade which I would agree with due to the advanced editing, use of camera angles and excellent narrative.
It has an average camera quality which doesn't make it look very professional. The beginning is messy and it could have sync better with song and the scenes are too different to place together
The camera works well with the music to help compliment the action if what the people are doing e.g. football however it still doesn't sync with the music beat. Furthermore it follows the actors very well and moves with them. The acting is fair believable however there is no lip syncing which makes it less like a music video. The narrative is very well assembled and clear. By having a separate scene in the dark is good to see his emotions which looks very effective and keeps it interesting to watch. The lighting they use in the separate scene look very good as well. Also there are a range of camera angles which helps this as well. The clothing suits the scene as it matches the actors age and looks formal for a music video. I would give this music video a high C due to its creativity however the construction was poor.
This music video is the has the lowest score out of the three videos. I think that the quality of the music video made the video to be worse that it seems. This is due to the poor camera quality. Although the lip syncing is in good the acting does not support it as its not very believable. Furthermore the dancing doesn't isn't hat good which again makes the video look not very professional and awkward. There is a good build up and camera angles in the beginning to show facial expressions by using close ups. There is also change of colours and tones which looks good as it links with the narrative but could have been better used e.g. more use of colours that represent it like red for love rather than purple. There is a creative narrative and it does fit the type of song however it does become a bit tedious due to the lack of relative locations like the woods. On the chorus I think they could have used the dancing more to show the faster pace and lively nature of the song and the editing could be fast short shots to help match the music. I think the clothing is appropriate but it could have been slightly more formal as it is a music video, as the jackets and boots look a bit naive. I would I've this music video a grade of a low C due to the basic skills demonstrated.
Learning Comments
By looking at these videos I have learnt that the best genres are the ones that are upbeat. This is because you can edit the video to match the beat of the music, also there can be a clear contrast in the video if the music tempo changes which will make it look more interesting. The genres that I could consider is pop, dance and electronic. I also feel that the more bland the clothes the more effective due to the video looking formal and not messy. Also I feel the editing and camera angles are really important as its a music video the more versatile the more interesting the video, by looking at the previous students videos. To do this I could experiment with high and low angles, extreme close ups and even use a range of special effects.
