Research - All Time Low - I Feel Like Dancin'

All Time Low's video for 'I Feel Like Dancing' emcompasses Barthes' Cultural Codes. By taking music that the stereotypical fan wouldn't like and mocking it the band can meet their audience's needs. I liked how they used satricial humour, and were able to mock themselves and their industry. Although I won't use this in my own video because it's the wrong stylistically for my genre, I thought it was an interesting video to watch, which mixes narrative and performance into a hybrid.

Research - Narrative theories

To further our understanding of music video conventions we looked into Roland Barthes' narrative codes and applied them to MTV music video award winner's and nominees videos. Below is a brief summary of the codes:
Enigma Code - Offers a puzzle and delays the answer (this keeps the audience involved and interested in the narrative). Commonly used in Katy Perry's  firework video; which follows the lives of five people, who all are facing problems of quite typical listeners to her music.

Action Code - An event having a series of logical consequences which helps the audience understand better the narrative.

Semic Code - The connotations suggested by the characters, settings and props. For example, in Eminem and Rihanna's love the way you lie there is a constant image of fire, having a semic code of anger and rage.

Symbolic Code - The idea of narratives being based around opposing forces. In order to figure out the bases of a film you need to work out the representation portrayed.

Cultural Code - The knowledge that audience's have to bring to a video to fully understand it, this is obvious in Maroon 5's moves like jagger, which could be seen as a homage to Mick Jagger's lifestyle.

Research - Types of narrative genre

The three main types of narrative genre

Performance : As seen in junk of the heart (happy) by the Kooks, performance videos focus upon the actual performance of the song, be it in concert or just the band singing the lyrics and playing their instruments.

Narrative : A storyline going on to help the audience understand the meaning behind the song, used a lot in Paramore's the only exception. The storyline is normally acted by actors, although this is not always the case

Experimental : Like Red Hot Chilli Pepper's can't stop, the video and the lyrics have no clear link.

I decided that I want to use both narrative and performance within my final piece. This is because through my research I've noticed that most videos of my chosen genre use this mixture and because I think that you can do this most effectively.

Research - The Kooks - Junk Of The Heart

This song has some excellent performance type shots that I could use in my own video. I particually like the opening shot of his feet walking, as it's something not stereotypical of the genre. The shot of him against the wall playing his guitar could also be used within my video as I was thinking about having some performance outside to narrow the gap between audience and performer. I also think the plain backdrop to the video is effective as it draws more attention to the singer and creates some interesting shadows on the walls. Finally I think the use of low angle shots upon the lead singer add interest and impact to him. I will definitely use these to film my performance.

Research - Eminem - Love The Way You Lie

Eminem and Rihanna's 'Love The Way You Lie' video - a hybrid genre of narrative and performance, emcompasses the concept of an absuive relationship; an idea which I was considering using in my own work. Within the video the director presents various semic codes (anger and rage) using fire to connote this. As fire is slightly impractical, I was thinking of doing a shot using candles to symbolise the same concepts.

Research - You Me At Six - Underdog

Even though I have decided upon an acoustic song for my final choice I really liked the balence between narrative and performance in this video; especially liked the still of the girl on the stairs. Her postition in the frame is to the side, which undermines her status. I think I could use this shot in my actual piece as the song involves a fair amount of sad scenes. I also thought the costume was effective as it connotes negativity / a melancholy mood, in my video I will probably end up doing at least some of my costume in black so as to create a similar tone.

Final Song Choice.

After thinking about potential audience, the meaning behind the songs and what I think would be most effective with the narrative I have decided to use 'finders keepers' the acoustic version by You Me At Six.

I've done this because I feel the most connected with the song and I can imagine a better performance and a better storyline to it.
In the next few days I need to contact Epitaph records to ask for song permission as well as blogging potential shots and ideas.

Song Research - Yellowcard - Shadows and Regrets

Yellowcard's 'shadows and regrets' is a good song, with a nice meaning to it, however, I find it to be slightly reptitive, and a bit longer than I wanted to do, which could make the video more monotonous to watch.

Potential Song Research - You Me At Six - Fireworks

Fireworks is another You Me At Six song which I really like. It's got a good meaning behind it and has different beats and tones to it - making it quite an interesting song choice.

Song Research - You Me At Six - Finders Keepers (Acoustic)

As well as being one of my personal favourite bands I find the lyrics to the You Me At Six songs to be really powerful and something which I could do a strong narrative and performance to.
After looking into their songs, I discovered 'Finders Keepers' the acoustic version, which has a strong concept to it:

Performance Shot Research - U2

After watching a video of U2's 'I Will Follow' from Glastonbury 2011 I decided that the main objective of the piece was to provide the audience with a sense of being there - as well as showcasing the band in their best light.
The BBC firstly use an extreme long shot to establish the scene (which they end on as well), to show the scale of performance and also to provide the audience with a general feel for the festival. After this, the camera focus' on each of the performers in turn (usually with a low angle shot to connote the band's iconic status / to represent the audience's point of view). The order of the performers shown is dictated by the music.
Throughout the whole performance the camera alternates between the audience point of view shots and band point of view shots. The crowd's point of view shots make the audience feel involved and the 'extra' shots from the stage make them feel special as they're getting a more rounded experience than the festival-goers.
In summary, for my own performance element to my music video, I've learnt to show the band / performer in the best possible way, keep the camerawork in time with the music and to always keep the needs of my particular audience in mind.