If you are having trouble reading the text then please download the PDF on the website here and click on 'Save this document' on the left hand side, see below:
Below you can see my script for my directors commentary:
In the following video I am going to be exploring the ways in which my A2 media product does use, develop or challenge conventions of real music video's and ancillary products. In order to do so, I will use Andrew Goodwin theory on key aspects of a music video, speaking about how I used these key aspects (as well as my own elements) to create my music video.
According to Goodwin there are around 6 key elements of a music video:
A music video will demonstrate characteristics conventional to its specific genre
A relationship between visuals and lyrics
A relationship between visuals and music
Intertextuality references to other media texts
References to looking and the voyeuristic treatment of the female body
and Conventional for a music video to feature a lot of close ups of the artists itself, which would create a star motif or style, a famous example of this is Daft Punk's robots, this is often regarded as the demands of the record label.
When I link this back to my own media product, the music video for Lester J Allen's 'Emma', I can see that I have conformed in many instances and even developed a few key aspects, such as the relationship between the visuals and the lyrics and music.
Goodwin identified that to make an artists music video more appealing to the specific target audience they would relate the video to the viewer and to the songs specific genre. So I began to research into the folk genre and some of it's most popular characteristics, the first that I found was that most of the video often have an overtly hidden meaning behind their narrative and contain ambiguous meanings, this is clear with Foal's Spanish Sahara and all of Bon Iver's music video, in particular 'Towers'. Bon Iver, like many other folk artists have used a very shallow aperture in their video to create a cinematic look and feel to the video, along with this, it is clear that in post production there has been some colour manipulation to create a often desaturated look.
A relationship between the lyrics and visuals can be described by Goodwin as illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics of the song. The lyrics play the key role in understanding the narrative in my music video since it all spawns from the story that is behind the lyrics. Although the music video isn't a performance based one, the characters still respond to the lyrics, for example the scene where the lyrics say "she liked me more than three years" and then the girlfriend character responds by looking down at her feet as if not true.
The relationship between the visuals and the music is an important area in post production and early planning stages, however is mostly seen in cuts on beats of the song, which I used toward the end when the tempo of the song began to speed up slightly and to give the impression of flashbacks from the point of view of the boyfriend thinking about 'Emma' (the girlfriend character). However, often this relationship is seen in music videos that feature dancing instead of a narrative, although obviously for my genre and song it was not appropriate.
Intertextuality is something that I had planned on using in my video and believe although it is subtle, I did manage to achieve a few references. The first reference can be seen in the bedroom, it is a small Saint Raymond poster, an indie rock band artist that would likely appeal to the target audience of my music video and therefore it's incorporation is key, Again, there feature many artists on the wall of the bedroom, notably Bon Iver (Justin Vernon) who is a very popular indie folk artist. Finally, I incorporated a Nirvana mug into a scene that is dotted around the timeline of the music video and it adds a lot since the band has become part of popular culture and their lyrics talk about similar issues as my artists and therefore it's placement is in tribute.
Throughout my video, there are numerous times in which the girlfriend character stares directly at the video, as if she's addressing the audience, however I wouldn't say that my music video ever includes voyeuristic treatment of the female body, since it doesn't include any nudity or intimacy between the character and the receptors of the video. If it did, I would be inclined to say that my video wouldn't conform very well to the folk genre of music videos, it would however begin to conform to other genres such as Pop, Hip Hop or Rap, e.g. Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball".
The demands of a record label is another area that Goodwin explored while researching, He found that often they will ask for lots of close ups of the artist and that the artists developed motifs which recur across their work, essentially developing a visual style, allowing the audience to relate to their work and recognise their style. This of course didn't happen in my music video because I didn't want to use my artist as the character but rather preferred to use a younger actor to present a relatable age to my audience, who potentially my be going through something similar to that detailed in the song. I did create a star motif, which was a theory by Dyer, through presenting my actor as the main character in my music video.
Goodwin claimed that there were three types of music video, performance, narrative and concept. I found when researching the genre that most were either narrative or concept based. I decided to incorporate elements of the two both concept and narrative.
For my digipak and magazine advert I looked at existing examples for the genre, looking at for example Passenger's digipak and it's design since his music conforms to the folk genre and began to notice the importance of synergy, both his digipak and poster utilise the same logo on his album. The other digipak that I analysed was that from Nirvana's 'Nevermind' album, although grunge is a very distinct genre from folk, they too utilised their iconic baby underwater image on their posters for both their tour and magazine adverts for the album.
With this in mind, I began planning my digipak, knowing that what I designed was going to influence the poster design. I wanted to present the folk genre through it's visual design, so I looked toward artists like Damien Rice whose album designs are iconic of the genre and present simple drawings as the album design art as seen with the album 'O' and 'My Favourite Faded Fantasy' and these really influenced my design, I looked toward a simple natural design, I found myself using a deciduous tree since it represents the love, loss and instability themes that are in the album itself. Inside the digipak, I used stills form the music video which I haven't seen being used before however I believed it was relevant and advertised the music video to the audience of the album.
Since I had this design, I knew I wanted to create synergy and so therefore I used the same design as on the artwork since the purpose of the poster is to directly advertise the album's release. I believe that I did conform in both the digipak and poster designs to the genre conventions.
Here are my final advert designs, I have created two slightly differing designs in the background, where the first one is basic/ white and the second has a grunge like design but maintains the black as the bolder attraction.
1)
2)
The idea for creating two differing designs was so that depending on the magazine and specified audience, the design could be selectively chosen to fit better with that specific magazine.
I created the designs based on the album artwork created for the digipak so they would conform, the rest was created in Photoshop using the same font - 'HammerKeys'. I also included icons to show availability for the album on digital marketplaces such as iTunes and on the free streaming service, Spotify.
Cohen in 1987 said that the media exaggerate and enforce the creation of 'Moral Panics' in his book Folk Devils and Moral Panics. The panic occurs when a “condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests." There is examples of this with the Mods and Rockers as you can see below from a front page of the Daily Mirror:
Eldridge in 1997, suggested that "the media occupy space which is constantly being contested, which is subject to organisational and technological restructuring, to economic, cultural and political constraints, to commercial pressures and to changing professional practices." in News, Truth and Power. 2) Read the attached article and answer the following questions:
How are students and women represented?
There is no doubt that both students and women are presented extremely negatively. The title and image are the first bold and capturing parts of the article, 'rage of the girl rioters' gives an aggressive view on the rioters with it's use of language and also the picture of the girl kicking the smashed police van. It gives the impression that it was a surprise that the women had not usually been linked with this sort of action and violence as the title states - 'and this time women are leading the charge', presenting it as a new threat. Is this a moral panic?
As said above, it presents a new threat to our society, not just the women but the students and 'thugs' (using terms that they're demonised with in the article). It strikes a fear purposefully and it would correctly respond to the definition. As the original theory stated, it does not actually mention the reasoning behind their uprising and why they've become a threat, which of course in 2010 when published was when the tuition fees increased by £6,000 a year. Are expectations being challenged or demonised?
Without a doubt they are being demonised, especially through the specially selected use of vocabulary to describe them and also the graphic images of the offenders smashing and even urinating on police vans. Although the last section of the article offered up a positive for women students, as a girl stood up against the violence, it works out negatively as she is ignored and the violence goes forth anyway. 3) How does this challenge/reinforce the representation of Youth Culture in Human Traffic and Quadrophenia? This article reinforced the general negative viewpoint that society has upon youth culture. The first visual link that comes to mind is the scene on the beach where the mods and rockers come together to fight on Brighton beach in Quadrophenia, although in the film it is down further to mindless violence between two social groups, whereas the article surrounding the students is down to political reasons, the increasing cost in university fees when they were promised to keep them the same.
There is a general negative outlook from the public presented in both the two films, human traffic with the Moff's parents and others, Quadrophenia with the public as a whole and the article relays the negative thoughts of the readers of the Mail Online, whereas readers of the Guardian got the insight into the political motives and understanding further to the reasoning behind the riots:
I completed my digipak through using Photoshop CS6, I went for a 4 panel design since it was easier to include two discs, one the CD and a DVD containing the music video for the track 'Emma'. I decided to do a folding design, I used this to separate the black and white design which greets you as you open the digipak, when unfolded you see the tiled images from the music video, creating a visual contrast. Below you can see the print out including cut markings and even a skeleton design including areas for print bleeding and placement of the CD trays.
Photoshop Screenshot
I printed the design out onto plain paper and using the design, I roughly constructed it together to ensure that it worked okay. I took some photographs of what it looked like once I had put it together to give an idea of size:
This is the deluxe CD edition for Nirvana's famous Nevermind album. The reason for creating this special digipak edition was because it was for the 20th anniversary, the tri-fold nature of the digipak is effective at housing both CDs that came included in this special edition. The Nevermind album cover was an attempt for Nirvana to break the mould from being the small independent band to a larger mainstream one and companies in America had a problem with its controversial album design, notably for Walmart was not the fact that the baby was going for a dollar that was on a hook but the fact that his penis was in clear view.
I believe that Cobain and co were anticipating this sort of reaction as they wanted to shock and create a memorable image for the basis of the following three years of their band and attempted to dispute the values that many Americans obtained. The cover had a baby greedily pursing the dollar hooked on a fishing line, symbolising the grubby temptation despite the innocent nature of the young baby, despite the fact that he clearly does not understand the meaning of a currency or it's use, big corporations will hook us in as young as possible, onto the consumerist nature that comes so naturally to many, because of this hook from a young age, this hook on greed, consumerism, ready to fit into the corporate system, this is likely the dominant message (viewed as producer intended) from Stuart Hall's reception theory.Ironically of course, this album pushed Nirvana to the extreme level of success, turing them into the political statement that they had once been attempting to express, although I can't say that the band really conformed to 'celebrity life'.
The uses and gratifications theory can be applied to the consumer of this album, where they would actively seek the music to fulfil their current mood. The use will mostly be for entertainment, such as the escapism that music can provide, and that is certainly true for this genre and album. However, because of the controversial nature of this album release (e.g. the naked baby), it's use can also be applied to social interaction because it sparks conversation between people, especially in this example, as it was frequently occurring on the news for the album art and for Cobain's drug abuse.
Original Release CD
The actual digipak its self has a personal touch to it with scanned in copies of the bands scribbles because the second CD included had some of their B side recordings on it and those that would likely purchase the album again would be fans of the original and thus to entice them into buying the deluxe edition this personal element draws them in. The handwritten track listing on both sides is rough and scribbly, which fits even the genre (Grunge) and their general personality, it also fits into Tess Perkins' theory of stereotypes, where this digipak has been aimed at, therefore the designers will attempt to conform to the grunge stereotype that their audience is known for having. The monkey used as the left panel in the digipak was originally on the back cover of their original release and it comes from early promotional stickers, as you can see above. It gives that personal throw back to the original album and although adjusted, still keeps the small details from the original release. The digipak generally conforms to the traditions of the rock and grunge but the CDs do not as they seem a bit too 'clean' and the design to me seems to simplistic and the design of the CD is similar to the Bossa Nova digipak I had viewed previously with simple colours, very different to the original CD design that was released, as you see:
The opening to the song by British band, Foals begins with a long shot of the mountains, which fades in from white, the general tone and mise-en-scene during this introductory shot gives the impression of solidarity and coldness, created through the over exposed shot with the bland white from the snow on the mountains. During this shot, to the bottom left hand corner of the shot, we notice a figure moving slowly, extremely subtly and it begins to create questions in the music video to what has happened prior to this. The editing of this shot is extremely long, lasting for over 1 minute (challenges traditional music video conventions of short cut editing) however it works well in conjunction with the lyrics, linking back to Goodwins theory of one of the five key aspects of music videos (Dancing in the Distraction Factory) are the links between the lyrics and video, in this case the song begins with "So I walked through to the haze", and the haze is visually represented here in the video with the weather.
The following scene shows Yannis Philippakis (the lead singer of Foals), the scene also cuts upon a beat but also it can be noted that it changes after the lyrics "Now I see you lying there" and puts the audience in the position of the directly addressed in the music video, as we are viewing directly the singer lying on his side. We also can begin to apply and see another one of Goodwins theories further develop from this point onwards as the bands frontman is now the centre of attention, this is used in order to portray the leading singers style and attract attention to his appearance as a young adult, potentially reaching out to their younger based audience.
He is represented as a young adult, conforming to many of the listeners of 'indie' music style, such as with the beard, stylised hair cut and clothes. He is therefore made a relatable and even given the image of a star (Dyer), therefore many of his audience base will see themselves in him.
The following scenic shots cut into the video after the protagonist closes his eyes, potentially referencing visually to the audience his thoughts, so blank but calm. The shots including the unknown plastic bag and beautifully cinematic close up of the icy ocean water. The movements within the music video are directly in beat with the tempo of the song, to the audience it creates a calm and peaceful environment to be in. This also gives the feeling of how time is passing by, made especially true by the more faced paced cutting in comparison to the previous clips.
The next shot that we see is a close up of the front man, Philippakis and again, this is a close up that is often cut back to at various points within the video and he is also the only person to feature in the video relates back to Goodwins theory of main star and protagonist from Dancing in the Distraction Factory. He is cut in and straight away the audience notices how he is singing softly toward the camera, addressing whoever is watching almost directly, as if he is explaining 'the horror' to them.This close up motionless shot allows the audience time to study and even relate to the person in view. The use of a black coat works well because not only does it broaden the potential target audience by not branding themselves to a particular social group or age but it also works well visually to balance the contrasting black from his hair and beard and the white from the background snow. The shot is extremely cramped, especially when in comparison to previous ones, when the filming location is so desolate and lonely it seems to have been done in order to create and further strengthen an idea that maybe he cannot escape from his own loneliness or even the surroundings, therefore this almost claustrophobic scene is cleverly used.
Following this, the video cuts to a scene where the protagonist is dragging what looks to be some sort of animal's carcass that is wrapped in plastic out of the water. The high angle shot makes is seem as if he is struggling with the weight of the dead animal both physically and mentally. The music video being concept based is very abstract and it depends upon the viewers understanding of the lyrics I believe in order to interpret the video. The shot is accompanied by "forget the horror here":
Forget the horror here
Forget the horror here
This has become a reference in modern literature such as Kurtz's last words from Heart of Darkness with a concept that there is nothing after death, the horror is the nothingness.
Leave it all down here
It's future rust and it's future dust
The terms combined create a meaning that to me signifies that the future will fade.
The use of repetition in the lyrics at this point, emphasises the loneliness once again possibly, the idea that nothing new has happened, the horror is still gripping him, the repetition is also in the video as he struggle to pull the carcass up the stones.
The music fades back down to the chorus and once again we get a glimpse at the cinematic close up scenic shots, they movement once again calm but slightly more vivid than previous shots and this is a response to the music. e.g the vocals have become louder and further instruments have been added to the backing track and they relate back to this with "now the waves they drag you down" (become more aggressive than before).
Goodwin has stated that "the demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist" and this is particularly relevant to our video, considering he is the lead singer and the only person featured.
As he struggles to climb the mountain with the animals weighing him down however he perceivers onwards. To me, the dead animals represent the trauma that we as human beings endure through from time to time and this whole idea of being alone, eternally with the 'horror' of nothing after death, the nothingness. It's a very powerful and gripping idea that is proposed in this video and presented very well visually too as it represents the themes of fury and this idea of a nightmare place.
When he reaches the top, he proceeds to burn the animals, to me releasing the trauma and horror that he has been confronted by, a release to him. The images we see are no longer so washed out and the (small) contrast between scenes is there and begins to show how the character is improving and just letting himself release from these energies, a potential reminder not to saturate himself so much later in life.
Using Stuart Hall's audience reception theory, which suggests that the producer of the media encodes the text and then it is the job of the audience to decode it, depending on their social identity, age, gender amongst other individual circumstances they will likely form a different reading. I have found personally that this is a very difficult medium to decode unless you know about the genre.
Once I had all the clips collectively together, I imported them all together into Final Cut and began to organise my timeline of clips, I used my storyboard and rough idea to begin piecing together the shots in order and cropping them. To the left you can see some of the imported clips that I had from my camera, and other items such as the sound for the song. This is my Browser and although not even half of the clips I recorded got used, it was necessary in order to make sure that I had every angle possible, therefore most things I shot twice from separate and differing angles.
In my timeline on FCP, I had many different video layers, so I could arrange the shots in a more effective and organised way. The layer below the video timeline is the audio, there is only one external audio source from the clips which features at the beginning before the music starts in the video.
For the most part I just jump cuts, I desaturated all of the clips only slightly to conform better to the dark tone of the lyrics and story.
Props:
Nirvana Mug
Matches
Zippo
Cigarette
Flask
Phone
Alarm Clock
Coffee Press
Notepad
Dirty Plates
Strobe light
Blue Fairy Lights
Letter
Laptop
I used various props, some for specific reasons such as the Nirvana mug for intertextuality, the phone to give further context into the story, along with the pad and paper to present to the audience the letter so they can understand the ending. Lights were used to present the characters in a specific light and to reflect their personalities using the connotations of the respective red and blue colours.
The bedroom was used to present Lester's untidy nature and to visually present his mental instability and state. The bedroom also presents areas of intertextuality, such as the band posters on the walls, e.g. Saint Raymond seen in the above.
Party environment
The party environment was originally meant to have greater inclusion in the music video however much of the footage was far too grainy to save and was far too awkward, it didn't really manage to present the character of Emma as stable without the Lester character, rather she just appeared like a normal teenager. The environment was set up with the blue lights to create strong silhouettes behind Emma. The colour is there to represent Emma. It connotes ideas of stability, softness and tranquility about her and it's meant to be reflective. Where as I used red to symbolize the character of Lester, which connotes ideas of danger, love and uncertainty.
Outdoor footpath
The footpath was used as a location for shooting, it created a link between both Emma and Lester, a mutual place and a representation of their relationship, dark and dying (since it was shot during winter). I had to do various shoots here, especially since during my times of filming occasionally it was too overcast and dark to film without capturing a lot of grain, therefore I had a lot of footage to include in the edit if needed.
Indoors
A late shooting location and the last after I done my audience questionnaire where I had to do a last minute update. It included a shot of Emma finding the letter and merely looking at it and then putting it in the bin. The location was intended to represent a working environment and the normality she still lives through despite Lester being sectioned.
Kitchen
The kitchen is an extension of a representation of Lester's untidy environment and further representation of instability, without care. The shots that are in the kitchen feature dirty washing, unwashed plates and a dripping tap, once again placed in order to create the sense of abandonment.
I only have two actors play the characters in my music video, simply because the story revolves around a fragile relationship, I thought that adding anyone else would simply confuse the story and therefore I chose to represent the story that the artist tells us through his lyrics.
The first actor I needed was to play the position of Lester himself and therefore I asked my friend Joel to enact this part. He fitted the position well because of his relevant age to the lyrics and story. Further his look was generally fairly spaced out, as though there were something constantly occupying his mind in all the shots I have filmed so far, this was the expression that I attempted to get him to show and I feel that it has been executed successfully, since the audience in this sense will not likely be able to make a link with the character.
I used Amy to play the role of Emma and the girl in the relationship, the shots that include her as the character present opposing emotional states and this is exactly what I wanted. She suited the role well because of her innocent look, especially during the scenes that I shot featuring the 'imaginary' Emma, the side that Lester imagines in his mind. Like Joel, her age is also relevant to the actual character in the story making her a more immersive actor.
Rage Against the machine are well known for their political art style tour posters as you can see below:
However this one below stood out the most for me, it is promoting a concert in Sydney and thus is an advertisement. It's such a striking image, the orange brings your eyes toward the centre of the image because it's so bold against the red washed out background. The orange tells the audience that he is an american convict and the straps and the cap of the electric chair.
The image is no doubt striking and presents the band in a controversial light, especially to those who aren't aware of their political scope and beliefs. The metal conductor attached to his head as he closes his eyes, presenting the characters peace or even loss of hope, is rather startling to us as the viewer of this advert, presenting the dark laws that hide behind states in America.
The band are well known for their "killing in the name of" song and eve their name presents anger toward a failing government, the use of the electric chair is used and meant to be a shocking image and create outrage by being a shocking image, that grabs attention because it is enforced by the US Government.
The deep red and orange colours to me present a theme of distrust toward authority and government figures (as their name implies, the machine) and further the aggression and repression they feel under their command, putting them in the place of the electric chair themselves.
The colours generally appeal to youth and conform to the rock genre as you can see below:
With reds and deep orange colours coming to light with other rock bands, it is a conformity to the genre that also presents the passion and boldness that the bands usually tackle, often surrounding teenage issues or political disagreements.
Throughout the past few weeks I have been shooting for various parts of my music video and discussing slightly with the Artist, Lester, about the meaning behind the video and he explained to me that the song was all about his relationship with Emma, but how his instability affected it, leading to him getting sectioned. He even explained to me how the poem at the start of the song was the exact letter that he left for her. This presented me with a few ideas and I began to generate ideas from here.
The first shoot, I knew exactly what I was doing with thanks to a in depth and thorough shot list, although I did make a few on the spot shots that proved to be very valuable shots, shooting from the characters bedroom as he awakes, receiving a phone call from home which enlightens the audience to the question of his whereabouts. The story then follows from him writing this letter, using jump cuts and editing to make it less have depth.
The second shoot will follow Emma, featuring a variety of shots in bleak locations and many close ups, presenting her confused emotions toward Emma. Have an idea to use contrasting colours for the characters with Blue for Emma, presenting neutrality and the Red that presents an instability.
The final shoot features a letter from the local hospital referring Lester to a counsellor at a hospital specialising in mental health. The shot features only Lester as he opens up the letter and disposes of it as he goes on a walk.
In the editing of this story, I am going to use a lot of jump cuts and there won't be a clear perception of a timeline to the song, which I am intentionally using in order to present the current state of mind of Lester.
Equipment:
Canon 600D
Helios 44-2 58mm F/2 Lens (Zenit 'E' Film lens)
External Sony Microphone
Props:
Mobile Phone
Pad and paper
Prop Letter
Red lights including a strobe
Blue lights
Matches
Editing:
Above you can see a screen shot from Final Cut where I have imported most of my final clips with the exception of the final shoot which I am still needing to shoot. Overall, I am very happy with the way that the quality is turning out and I like the use of an unknown timeline, placing random scenes in order to present this instability because I feel that the video is based off the view point of Lester, since it is him singing the song.
The audience going to be aimed at 14 to 25 year olds because the music challenges the worries and problems that they usually face growing up and views it from their vantage point, empathising with them and therefore I hope to create a music video in order to show this too.
OVERVIEW:
A music video for the song 'Emma' from Lester J Allen's album 'Deadly Quiet' and it will be shot in reverse, where the story line begins at the end but is visually represented at the start of the music video and work itself backward to unveil the storyline further about this mysterious character (to begin with, as the audience is unfamiliar with him).
The two characters follow the real people and their perception through the song, Lester is the artist himself and Emma is his girlfriend at the time, as the song is named after her.
The story follows a young teenager whom is bitter yet resentful towards the girl after a break up. The audience later learns that the break up was due to the fact that he had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
I would like to present him before being sectioned, whilst still with Emma and as he goes to write the poem that is read at the beginning of the song, Lester himself told me that those words are what he left for her just before he went away.
Running along side this in the timeline, although prior to it, I am going to present a scene where Lester opens a letter addressed to him from the hospital about his mental instability and how he has been transferred to the local mental health institution for counselling.
The editing is going to be optimising jump cuts to the maximum potential, using it as a way of contrasting two scenes, e.g. the state of Emma and then how Lester is after the break up.
