Pitch an Idea based on Song Lyrics



During this activity we were asked to listen to a song without knowing the name or who made it and pitch an idea for a music video. During this task my group typed some notes.

Autophilia by the Bluetones

Narrative:

Walking to intro beat (just show feet)

Arriving at school, sees girl walking in cheerleading uniform and the pompoms are flashing

Starts thinking about future dates. Whenever he drives past a certain place he imagines:

·         Drive-in cinema

·         Diner

·         Rollerblading

·         Picnic in central park

·         Bowling

She looks over and smiles at him

Goes home and plans how to ask her out

He decides to ask her out after she finishes cheerleading but he’s late so he’s flooring it to get there before the end and he parks on a double yellow line

The end

 

Genre:

Video is pop genre

Artist is britpop

Expected: boy – girl meet, stereotypical characters

Unexpected: he has the guts to ask her out

 

Audience:

Teens and below

Set in high school – relatable to audience

Audience access video on YouTube and Facebook and maybe TV

Visual Codes:

Set in NYC High School

Street – walking to school

Driving in his car

American football field

Park

Bowling alley

Outdoor cinema

Rollerblading place

Diner

Typography: name of school

Name of song as cheerleader banner

Close ups and mid shots of both of them to show smiling, etc.

Technical Codes:

Close up on feet at start – track out and tilt up to show his face when he starts singing

High angle on boy and low angle on girl to show where power is

POV when he’s looking at her cheerleader

Long shot/ establishing shot of fields

Editing – flash forwards – fast pace


The actual music video was Autophilia by the Bluetones

 

 

It differs from our groups pitch as we thought it was referring to someone else (e.g. a woman/girl), but we didn't see the car references ("Double Yellow Line") and therefore we based our narrative for the music video in a American high school as the lyrics talked about love.

 

Analysed Song Lyrics - Evanescence by My Immortal

During this activity we were given some song lyrics and asked to analyse them and create some shots based completely on lyrics.

 

It is important to analyse lyrics as sometimes they have a deeper meaning and when creating a music video you can help convey what the lyrics mean within the music video. On the other hand you by analysing the lyrics you can see that the have a literal meaning and convey this to the audience when creating the video.

My pitch differed from the video as my pitch is more literal since the actual video tries to use metaphors and other imagery to show the lyrics. My pitch also has a narrative whereas the actual music video is unclear and seems to have a linear narrative but it unclear.

Lip Syncing and Why it is Important

Lip syncing is when an artist who is featured in the music video will month the lyrics of the song without singing it. When the video is editing together with the music over the top it looks like the artist is singing the song in the music video when they are not. This is a very common effect used in  modern day music videos and is used by many professional artist.

This is important as to make a music video look more professional artist need to master this skill. This effect is easy to mess up as if the lip syncing is not in time with the song it may look bad in the video and the audience will easily be able to see that you are not singing the song.

We need to know this skill as we will most likely use it within our music video as it will make ours look more professional. We will also have to notify the people in our video so that they can learn the song and have time to practice lip syncing it before we record them doing so.

Instrument syncing is also important. Instrument syncing means that we must match the beat of the song and the visuals. An example of this would be when a guitar is strummed in the music the visuals must match up. This is important as it makes music videos look of a better quality. Also it may makes it look more like the artist is actually singing it as well as playing it and therefore makes it look more like a professional music video with a high production value. Instrument syncing and lip syncing are important and can make a video look professional if used together and synced correctly during post-production.

Analysis of a Digipak and a Magazine Advertisment

Digipak:
This digipak is for the album "Loud" by Rihanna and was briefly analysed and explained in class.

The digipak contains a case, 2 discs and some box art. Each piece of content within this digipak is based on the same theme and shows. The theme of flowers is used (due to the CD having an image of a flower on it and the disc case having Rihanna in a field of roses) and the colour red has a strong influence in the images used due to the fact that the roses are red as well as Rihanna's hair and lip stick. The colour red has clearly been chosen for a reason and has connotations of both love, lust as well as seduction. These connotations may relate to the songs included on the discs or it could have been chosen as it is a bright colour and can be eye catching to consumers. The digipak also contains multiple pictures of the artist in order to promote her look and music.

Magazine Advertisement:
During the same lesson we also briefly analysed and explained this magazine advertisement for a band called the "Stereophonics".

The main purpose of this advertisement is to promote both the band and the new album. This can be seen due to the fact the picture of the band takes up the majority of the page and the other portion of the page is taken up by a advertisement for their album. At the bottom of the page it includes critical details about the album itself such as release date, image of box art, release methods and music institution logo; these are for the fans so they know how and when they can get there copy of the album. This advertisement is a full A4 page of a magazine which is a common thing in music related magazines. This page uses mostly dark colours. The band and the page are mostly made up of black. The black is contrasted by the white background they are standing in front of. This makes the band members more eye-catching and noticeable.

Purpose of a music video, digipak and magazine advertisement

Music Video:
The purpose of music video is to promote both the artist since normally music video contain live performance or clips of the artist singing. Additionally it also promotes the song itself as well as the album it is in since people may hear the song and remember the music video; this may also lead to people buying the album if they enjoy the song. Also the music video is made to entertain the audience as they watch the video and maybe help engage them.

Digipak:
Digipaks help promote the CD or album since they are for the fans of the artist. Digipaks normally come in a case with a picture of the artist or the album cover and two CDs instead of one. They also promote the artist by featuring a picture of them (example to the right). As you can see all the content within the digipak is themed, in this case there is a strong emphasis on the colour red and flowers. The box has a image on it that matches the theme of the box art, additionally the CDs have an image of a flower on them that also match the theme.


Magazine Advertisement:
Magazine advertisements are normally a single A4 page of a magazine that depicts an image that is relevant to the band (this can be the box art of a album they are trying to promote or a group picture of the members of the band). The purpose of the magazine advertisements is to promote the band itself to make people aware of their music. It can also be to promote a tour that the band are doing (these will normally give audiences times, locations and dates) or a recently released album.

What makes a good student music video?

There are multiple aspects that make professional music videos look good; this can include special effects, good actors, goods choice of shots or good costume design. When students are making a music video this is a bit harder due to limited time and low budget, but there are a few things students can do to make theirs look better.

The main thing students need to consider when making a music video is making it look professional. This means they must include aspects such as live performance, narrative and shots that match the music tone and beat. these are just a few examples of how students can make professional music and if this is done correctly it will make the music video overall a better quality and more professional looking.

Another aspects that is important in making a good student music video is lip syncing. Lip syncing must be correctly timed with the music or the music video looks silly and it makes it obvious to the audience they are not really singing. This is a important aspect and if not correctly can be easily spotted. In order to make sure it is correct students should ensure they know the words of the song and when editing make sure the song is correct synced with the video. This can be easily done by making a loud noise at the beginning and matching the sound spikes (during post production).

Students Music Video Textual Analysis - Can't Hold Us by Macklemore

Introduction:

This textual analysis is based around a student music video for the song “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore. It includes a variety of shots and effects that make it look professional and it is clear that they have thought about narrative when making it. With use of special effects it easy to see that they have tried to make their music video seem like a comic book.

Genre:

The genre of the music itself is hip hop but the genre of the music video is different. They have clearly tried to add comedy into the song through use of the stereotypical criminals that fail there attempts to rob someone. All characters within the music video are stereotypical making the genre clear and making the narrative to the audience clear despite there being no dialogue.

Narrative/Character:

The narrative for this music video is clear and easy to understand. As an audience member all the characters make sense and due to the genre of the music video are stereotypical making it easy to understand both the story and characters. The stereotypical criminals are wearing black and white striped clothing and face masks which is iconic and easy to see as an audience member. Despite the lack of dialogue the narrative is still clear since it is very simple.

The music video doesn’t really follow Todorov’s five stage theory as the disruption stage (stage 2) is at the beginning of the video and there is no stage of equilibrium prior to it. The disruption in the video is clearly the criminals since in media criminals are stereotypically seen as bad guys. Stage 4 is shown in the video (resolution to disruption) during the dance scene. There are some stages of Todorov’s theory within the music video but they are not in the correct order or are very brief.

Audience:

The audience for this music is clearly teenagers around the ages of 15-30 years old, but the music video is within the comedy genre and any minor violence that is featured within the music video is censored using a big bubble therefore the music videos target audience can be slightly lower from around the age of 12-30 years old. The reason the audience is still so high is due to the fact that with the genre the music is part of (hip hop) it has a fairly high audience and younger audiences typically do not enjoy this type of music.

I think both the music and the music video is aimed at males. This is due to the fact that the content within the music video can be seen as targeting both female and male whereas the music is trying to attract males due the song being within the hip hop genre. The music video can also be seen as trying to attract male audience at some points due to the fact it features male actors and the artist who features in the music video is also male, but overall I think the music video is fit for both male and female audiences, but some features may try and cater to a male audience more than a female audience.

Intertextual References:

The music video uses multiple special effects in order to make the music video look more like a comic book. This includes use of a filter that makes the colours look more like the ones used in comic books as well as speech bubbles which show what certain characters are saying or thinking. It also features bubbles that have word like “KAPOW” during a fight which censors the violence. This also could be a reference towards comic books or old super hero movies where bubbles like this were used (e.g. Old Batman TV show).

Visual Codes:

Visual codes within the music video suggest it is set in modern day in London. I can see this due to some of the shots featuring famous London landmarks (London Eye) and the large structures. On the other hand the clothes the characters within the music video are wearing suggest that the video may be set in the past as the clothes they are wearing are not popular today and may have been worn more popularly in the past.

Student Music Video Textual Analysis - Stuck by Canopy Climbers

Introduction -

This music video is based on the song "Stuck" made by Canopy Climbers. Overall the quality of the music video is good and its clear that the students creating it have played closed attention to framing. Additionally all content within the music video fits the genre of the music chosen and it is also evident that they have analysed the lyrics to ensure the visuals both conform and do not conform the lyrics. They have also including all the main factors of a music video such as narrative and live performance in which they have the artist lip synching.

Genre -
I think this video falls within the action genre as it shows has multiple scenes which include violence or have generic conventions of the action genre (e.g. the punching bag scene, the crime itself, the fire connotes violence and danger). Another aspect of the video that conforms to the action genre is that the actors within the music video are mainly male. This is a common trope within actions
movies and is shown here as the main characters are male.

Narrative -
It is evident that narrative has been considered implemented within the music video. The narrative starts off slow paced and shows two men sitting in a field. This is followed by quick flashes of a crime in which they assaulted a man and left him wounded. This becomes clear through the series of flashbacks that are shown throughout the music video. During the scene in which the crime happens the pace of the music video speeds up and the cuts become much more regular. This is good as it shows the pace of the fighting is fast and they have interjected it with shots of lip synching therefore connoting that it is a flashback. Additionally they have clearly colour graded the flashbacks scenes as the colours are colder and are mainly greys which juxtaposed the other shots which are in comparison more colourful. At the end of the music video there is a clear resolution as the man who was assaulted returns and spares the criminal. Through this narrative I can see some of Todorov's Narrative Stages. It is clear that at the start the music video is calm and there is a equilibrium (stage 1). This is followed by the fragmented flashback of the incident which is a disruption (stage 2/3) this also incorporates stage 4 as these events happen very quickly within the music video as the crime happens. At the end stage 5 is shown as there is a equilibrium as the victim returns and spares the person who assaulted him.

Audience -
The audience for this music video is clearly mature as it contains scenes of violence and even through they are brief and paced very quickly it is clear that the audience age range is around 16-30 as this video falls into the action genre. My decision for this age range is also due to the fact the storyline is fairly confusing and may be hard to understand for younger audiences and may be too violent for younger teenagers (11-15). The audience for this music videos will mostly be made up of males. This tends to be the case with the action genre as it is normally made up of male characters (which is the case within this video). It is clear from the video that it was intended to be aimed at a male audience and perhaps fans of the action genre as well.

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