Initial ideas

Our group has decided to do a music video for an unsigned band called 'Kill the Freak' as this is the first video created for this band we had more freedom when deciding what we would like to feature in the video. 

The song we have chosen to make the video is called 'I'm a Freak' which has lyrics that link closely with mental illness. 

For these reasons out initial ideas are to set this video in a mental institution. The front man of band will play the main character in the video. We plan to only film parts of the bands body/ instruments to keep some mystery around the band. We also wanted to show how the main character descends into insanity by writing the song title 'I'm a Freak' all over the characters arms and face. We used videos such as Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold for inspriation, this is because the video has a similar theme to ours and we wished to used similar effects to the ones seen in this music video as we felt they worked well in the video. We also took inspiration from the music video 'Before I Forget' by 'Slipknot' this is because in this video the faces of the band members are never seen which is done to maintain the unknown identity of the band members. Although we used this idea in our music video we did it for a different reason, we wish the instruments to be the focus during the performance shots rather than the people band members playing them. 

Initial notes on a music magazine advert

In adverts for albums in music magazines there is often every little information. For example in this advert for You Me At Six there is only seven pieces of information in this advert. It only shows The band and album name, the release date and where it can be found. The picture that is used is also always linked to the album cover, for example in this advert the picture is the same as the album cover. They used yellow font for the release date to make it stand out and use white writing for the majority to make it stand out from the dark background.

Analysis of a past pupils work

The genre of this video is very similar to the genre of the artist which is pop.
This video has a narrative that is very typical as it portrays a break up.
In this video we see performance scenes as well as a break up which is what people would except to see in this video, and there is very little that in unexpected.
In this video there are no obvious intertextual references.
The narrative in this video shows how two people cope after a break up.
In this video we only see one stage of Todorov's five stages, which is disruption. We only see this stage because we see then after they have broken up and there is no attempt to repair the situation.
There are two recognisable character however in this video it is difficult to tell if either of the two people are the protagonist or antagonist.
There are no links clear links between the lyrics and visuals in this video.
In this video genre is represented in a non stereotypical manner as men and women are portrayed as being equal in this narrative.
The artist appear in the video but is not represented as a star.
The video is set in various places set as a house, woods, and town streets. 
The video is in black and white which may connote the sadness felt by thw woman after the breakup. 
Most of the shots seen in this video are either mid or tracking shots.
The cuts vary in speed throughout the video but are often on beat with the song. The speed of the cuts increase as the song becomes more powerful.
I believe the target audience of this video are fans of Adele or females between the ages of 15 and 20.
I believe this is a successful video as it contains a clear narrative that fits the general theme of the lyrics. It also has a nice mix of performance and narrative shots.

The Purpose of a Music Video

The main purpose of music videos to Promote an artists work and advertise the artist. Another purpose of a music video is to entertain the target audience of the artist and leave a last impression on the audience so they remember the video and the artist.

Music video are a marketing device that allows the artist to advertise themselves and use them of another way to entertain their fans as well as the public, they can promote their songs and spark interest from the public that aren't already aware of the artist, by showing videos on music channels for example Kerrang! or 4Music the public are introduced to the band, the band also gain money from being played on the channel and the interest it sparks within the public will lead to an increase in sales for that band. Music videos can help sell merchandise from the band as well as other comapines for example The Blackout! sell t shirts with lyrics on them that link to songs and msic videos.
A good example of how to sell a music video is seen in an All Time Low video to 'I Feel Like Dancin' where in the narrative we see the sterotypical ways in which some artists make marketing through product placement and using intertextuality and voyeurisnm.

History of the Music Video

A music video is a video created to promote the artist; it can range from being the length of the song to becoming a short film. The footage in a music video is created solely for the purpose of being used in the video and it is rare to see a modern music video that uses footage that was not intended for a music video.

The first video recorded performance was by Bessie Smith, it was shown in cinemas between 1929 and 1932, this is technically not a music video as the sound on the video is live and it wasn’t created to promote the artist.

In the 1940’s Disney created Fantasia; these were animated short films which were played with classical music, the music was created for the film rather than the short film being created for the music.

Music promos appeared in 1950’s with the introduction of duke boxes so certain members of the public were able to select popular music tracks. Cab Calloway released a live action video to his song Minnie the Moocher, which was performed in front of a live audience, the footage used was not created solely for a promotional music video it was again like Bessie Smith created for an entertainment purpose.

From the 1950’s to 60’s Scopitone duke boxes were first seen being released in France, the consisted of a number of videos of artists performing their songs, it was very rare to see these duke boxes for the public to use as they were expensive to use.

In 1964 The Beatles created the first music film for their song ‘Hard Day’s Night’ which was the first film of that kind to be created. Later in 1967 they also created videos for ‘Penny Lane’ and ‘Strawberry Fields’ Strawberry Films was a very psychedelic film with little footage created for the purpose of being used in the music video.  In 1966 Bob Dylan release a video ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ this video was made to be ironic and random, as the words held up on the card are often spelt wrong.

Video recording and editing equipment became cheaper in the 1970’s and in 1975 Queen released a video for Bohemian Rhapsody which is classed as the first proper music video.

In 1981 MTV was launched, this was the first 24 hour music channel, the first song played was ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ by the Buggles, this video showed how the launch of MTV was the end of radio.
 During the 80’s music videos were showing more of a plot and many videos such as Michael Jackson’s Thriller which became a short film by itself.

Top of the Pops was also launched but were very careful as to what they would show on the show. Producers would begin to create a video that would be banned so they could use the controversy to promote their release. Examples of this were Duran Duran’s ‘Girls on Film’ and Fankie Goes to Hollywood with ‘Relax’.

In 1995 Michael Jackson released a video to Scream with his sister, this video cost $7000000 to produce and is the most expensive production ever created.

In 2005 Youtube and iTunes was released,  these releases meant that people could listen to music on the go and what videos whenever they wanted to.

 

Textual analysis of John Newman

The genre of the video and artist are both pop/ soul. 

There is a typical narrative as the couple meet across a room 'love at first site'.

There are both expected and unexpected parts in this video: it is expected that we would see a performance part in this video however there is a very unexpected  part at the end of the when the couple get hit by a van. 

Three of the five stages of equilibrium are seen in this video however disruption is seen twice because of the crash at the end of the video. 

There is only one link between lyrics and visuals which is the idea of love. 

In the video it is represented that women need men around her to be able to go out to a club with used to be very stereotypical. 

The video is some what colourful bit still shows some darkness which reflects the lyrics and narrative. 

There are low angles used on the couple to show power, close ups are also used to show emotions of people in the video. 

The editing it quite fast paced to show how quickly the relationship moved. 

The target audience for the video is people between the age of 17 to 24 demographic group E/D as well as fans of the band. 

Textual analysis of Katy Perry

The genre of the video as well the the artist  is pop. 

The theme of the video is overcoming obstacles but the video portrays this in an unconventional way. 

It is expected to see Katy Perry perform which is what we see. 

There is an inter-textual reference to eye of the tiger by survivor throughout the song. 

In this video three of the five stages of equilibrium is seen: disruption, recognition and equilibrium. 

There is only one main character in this video which is Katy Perry and she is represented as a heroine in this video. 

There are links between the lyrics and the visuals, he often sings about tigers in this song which are often seen in this video. 

In this video women are represent as strong and independent which isn't an overly stereotypical representation. 

The colours used in this video are very bright to show the happy tones within the video and the song.

A lot of low angles are used on Katy to show her power on this song. 

The editing in the video is continuous and quite slow paced but is fast paced in places to convey different emotions. 

The target audience for this video would be fans of Katy Perry of ages between 14 and 18 they achieve this by showing Katy Perry and using bright colours. The demographic group the video is aimed at would be E/D.