Genre Theory - Jason Derulo - What If?

Codes & Convetions
I chose to analyse this video because it fits my ideas in terms of form, and I think it's really cleverly executed.
Like most pop videos, the protagonists are a couple, and the song is based around love and it's ups and downs. Also like a lot of modern pop videos - the song is predominantely narrative and there's no band in the performance element and the singer features heavily in the narrative.
However, in a lot of ways, this video defies the normal conventions of it's genre. Firstly, even though he is male, he isn't surrounded by women nor is the female wearing anything provocative. It also is all in reverse, which is rearely done within the genre and is about sacrificing love as opposed to gaining it. By defying some of the codes slightly, Jason Derulo makes the video more exciting to watch as we as the audience don't know what to expect, this then satisifes our need for experience new things. It also meets the audience needs by making both characters act out realistic scenes allows us to better relate.

Genre Research - Chris Brown - Look At Me Now

Iconography
The video for Chris Brown's 'Look At Me Now' encompasses a lot of stereotypical 'rap' culture icons. The genre as a whole is very much about community, wealth, going out and women. Throughout the video the performers all wear extravangent chains, caps and are surrounded by smoke - indicating power and mystery.
The large amounts of street and hip-hop dancing featured in the video are iconically from this genre, and even though the song itself isn't about women, there are still barely clothed girls in the background - firmly placing the video in the genre.

Genre Research - Fall Out Boy - Beat It

Repetoire of Elements
Fall Out Boy's 'Beat It' is similar in genre to my original song. The video uses the 'repetoire of elements' theory to pay homage to Michael Jackson. Although the song is rock music, the mise en scene in the narrative half of the video is similar to that of Jackson's own videos - both with regard to costume (the men in gloves and suits) and style of dance. This intertexuality is unlike their normal style of video, but adds an interest for the audience. The band ensure that their own costumes are typical of the 'rock' genre - with black and white costumes, hats and guitars for the performance element.
By using intertexuality, Fall Out Boy have allowed this song to have a wider target audience (aka the fans of the late Michael Jackson) and also created something different for the stereotypical fan to watch - therefore expanding their knowledge.

Genre Research - Calvin Harris - Feel So Close

Utopian Pleasures
Feel so close matches my chosen genre in terms of form. The video is a combination of narrative and performance, though is much more heavily weighted on the narrative side, following multiple storylines. It uses the utopian pleasures genre theory really nicely - showing energy with the cheerleaders, intensity with the young couple, and generally presents an idea of community.
However, there are elements, especially toward the beginning, of social inadequacy. For example, the first shot older man is a mid shot of him at dusk with his horse. The mise-en-scene is desolate and the lighting is dim to reflect a melancholy, nostalgic, feeling. The establishing shot is of Calvin Harris alone in a car, again playing with ideas of scarcity and fragmentation.
The video as a whole moves from mild social tension to complete utopia, with the older man dancing with a younger woman in a club, and the same shot of Calvin Harris' car, except this time with a passenger.
For my A2 piece I am switching the narrative from social tension back to utopia (through use of the concept of memory), then ending with social tension.

Research - Potential Shot Idea

I was thinking earlier about other, more personalised shots that I could use in my final piece and thought about ways to link in my symbolic code of fire. I could do this by taking a still photo of my protagonists and filming the burning, I tried this earlier (and filmed it), and I think it looked really effective.
I then had to think about where in the video to place it, and thought of the All American Reject's 'Dirty Little Secret' video, which I previously blogged about. Like Finders Keepers there's a section of quick shots. I thought about taking lots of shots of my couple in 'happier times' and splicing them together rapidly, followed by a slow shot of the photo burning.
I finally came up with the idea that the photo could be one of the happier time shots.

Research - Coldplay - the Scientist

Although the form of this video differs to my own slightly, I found it to be really haunting, with a lot of things that I could take away and make my own.
Firstly, I love that it's set outside, which I was going to do - by not using a studio my auidence will feel more connected to the singer and it allows them to empathise more with the song (and, where I live there are a lot of fields, forests and rivers that would look lovely on film).

I absolutely adored the establishing shot, I think the aerial idea is fairly achievable, and looks really nice, also, it's not particually common, so should engage the audience as well. However, instead of just using the shot once, I would film my singer performing the whole song there and perhaps splice them into my video.

Another feature of the song I liked was the reversed shot idea (although I probably wouldn't do it for a whole song). I thought when his coat 'flew' back into his hand looked really professional, and also gace a sort of supernatural feel to the piece. However, because my song is about alcohol abuse, I was thinking of doing a similar thing but with a smashed glass bottle; connoting that the problem won't go away.

30 Second Video - Evaluation

Overall we were fairly happy with the task, especially how the location turned out, and the synchronisation of the tamborine. We, and the rest of our class, also thought our shots look professional and not too overwhelming for the eye - which is definitely somehting I should keep in mind when I start filming my main piece.
However, I have learnt a number of things. Firstly, we had a slight problem getting people together; which has taught me to let my real actors know in plenty of time. Our timing for the lip syncing was slightly out as well, given more time we probably would have re-filmed this, as well as perhaps doing some more innovative shots with the guitar to conceal the fact that it was a six-string and not a bass.
Having been able to practice the whole planning / filming / editing process has been useful for me in terms of understanding the importance of organisation and also some useful techniques for my own performance video.

We also analysed Jess and Alison's performance, which was really good. I liked the set of quick cuts to keep the audienced engaged, and thought the use of a colour filter was clever and added interest; however, perhaps they could have used a slightly less obvious red filter. The syncing was also really well done, which is somehting I need to work on.

30 Second Video - Final Piece

30 Second Video - Filming

Last week we filmed our footage for the task. We encounter some problems with both location and people; due to the fact we had to film within school, we had difficultly finding a free, blank classroom in which we could take instruments. We also found it incredibly hard to organise both of us, plus our three actors and to find a time when we were all free. This has given me the idea of potentially filming my performance and narrative for my final piece separately, giving me more flexible times and less stress.
However, filming went really smoothly, we have got all the shots we need (and some more, just incase it all goes wrong), and we're going to edit it all tomorrow.

30 Second Music Video

We were set a task by our teacher to film, edit and produce the first 30 seconds of Golden Earring's 'Radar Love' in order to get more of an idea into the practically of editing to match a song's tempo, as well as introducing us into the potential problems of filming.

My Partner and I produced this storyboard to help us plan our filming day:

Research - Generic Narrative Codes & Conventions

In the theory side of media we have been looking at narrative. In order to understand how we can use theory to influence our final outcomes (and to help us with the written exam in Summer). I took a screen grab from my AS and compared it to 'A Nightmare On Elm Street'.

Research - Audience Research

In order to better understand my audience needs I conducted some research into a stereotypical fan of the band I'm using for my video. As I expected, my target audience are people of my age group (16 - 25), who usually use music for distraction from everyday life as well as for personal identity. One common theme I found is that all my genre of videos meet the audience needs by either allowing them to relate to the singer / performers or by being experimental and therefore allowing the audience to completely switch off from everyday life.

This has affirmed my idea to use performance and narrative, with the idea of relationships and the effects of  alcohol as themes because it's something my target audience should be able to relate to easily.

Research - Eminem - Spacebound

Although not from my chosen genre, after watching this video the other day I saw the use of reversing the shots. I really like this idea because it could represent how the protagonists in my narrative want to turn back time. However, unlike Eminem, I wouldn't do this showing the whole video but only a part of it.

I found the use of the coffee to be effective and was thinking of doing something with liquid in reverse. Because my song is about alcoholism I think this would link in thematically as well.

Planning - Meaning Behind The Lyrics

Finders Keepers is, in my opinion, a song with a fairly obvious thread to it. The idea of a failing relationship, where everything is based around lies. The singer obviously wants the girl to see what mistakes she makes when she's drunk, but he feels noone can change her. It's playing with the childhood concept of 'finders keepers', by saying that even though he found her for 18 months, he still ended up losing her (or maybe she lost herself?).

When it says 'old habits die hard' I think she's a metaphor for the habit. He doesn't know how to live normally without her, because they were dating for a long time. Then he says 'I'm too young to die' implying that he doesn't want the relationship to end, simply because he can't live without her.

I was thinking about playing subtely with the childhood idea of finder's keepers somehow in my video, although it may be quite hard to incorporate without looking too cliched.

Planning - Timeline (With Lyrics)

One of the most important things in a good music video narrative is ensuring that the tempo and the beat matches the song, and also that the story matches the underlying meaning of the lyrics. In order to start getting my head around which parts of my piece will be performance and which will be narrative I listened to the song and noted how long each verse took, and the lyrics. I think this will be invaluable when storyboarding, and will also give me a rough idea of how much narrative / performance I'm going to use.

Verse 1: 0.00 - 0.18
You've got a nerve, giving me the cold shoulder
Giving me the twice over, that's not deserved.
And we'll talk, again when you're sober
You say that I've gone cold and our heat is gone.

Verse 2: 0.18 - 0.34
I wanna be your eyes so you can see
What you've done
I wanna be your ears so you can hear
Everything that's been missing

Chorus A: 0.35 - 0.49
Finders keepers, will you keep me in mind?
I like secrets, 'cause they keep in line
Old habits die hard,
But I'm too young to die.

Verse 3: 0.50 - 1.07
I guess it's a mess
If you make your bed,
So why are we still laying in it?
And I could barely sleep
I could barely eat
And it's been 3 whole weeks
Since I heard you speak

Verse 4: 1.07 - 1.22
So hard to take
That 18 months was built to break
Oh, I love mistakes
Especially ones you've made (I'll bet you're sorry)

Chorus A: 1.23 - 1.36

Chorus B: 1.38 - 1.52
Finders keepers, the whole thing is a lie
You won't find her,
'Cause she's too hard to find
Take my advice, and boy, run a mile.

Verse 5: 1.53 - 2.23
And have another drink
And then think this one over
You dig yourself a grave everyday that you're sober
Do you see what I mean?
Have your best interest written all over me
I could never be what you need.

Chorus A: 2.26 - 2.41

Chorus B: 2.41 - 2.55

Exterlude (Sung): 2.57 - End
And I bet, you guess me right (you guessed me, yes, you guessed me right)
I bet you guess me right.

Planning - Writing For Copyright

I realise that I needed to contact the owner of You Me At 6 (epitaph records) in order to request a copyright. I looked on their website and found the head of music licensing, and sent him the following email:

Research - The All-American Rejects - Dirty Little Secret

This video is incredibly clever, it uses different people's secrets to meet audience needs as the audience instantly can relate to someone within the text. However, the thing about this video that really inspired me was toward the end, where they had quick cuts of all the previous shots within the text. In Finders Keepers, there is a roughly 10 second bit toward the end where the music tempo increases, I was thinking of doing a something similar to All American Rejects, by getting a selection of shots from the video and placing them in that section of music.

Research - Young Guns - Stiches

'Stiches' differs slightly from my video in terms of genre (as it's performance and experimental). However, I love the black and white effect, and the sharp editing. A shot I found to be especially effective was the extreme close up on the guitar frets, which is something I could quite easily use in my own video. I also found this text useful for thinking more closely about my performance shots - the face close ups and how they silhouetted him out in some parts added an interesting dynamic to the video, and held audience interest.

Ancillary Task Research - CD Covers - All Time Low

All Time Low are a band similar in genre to the original version of Finders Keepers. This was one of their first albums produced, and I still think it's one of the most effective. The colour scheme is eye catching without being overtly garish and, similar to Ed Sheeran's album cover, the people are framed to the side of the piece. I like the idea of the silhouettes - they add a slightly different style, and make the people look ambiguous. This would grab the audience attention because it seems like there is no specific stereotype of audience member - anyone can appreciate their music.

Ancillary Task Research - CD Covers - Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran is an upcoming acoustic artist, as I am intending on doing an acoustic cover I thought looking at the style and layout of this album would be beneficial to getting my ideas for my digipack together. I really like the simplicity of this, and I think the angle and framing of the shot would work well for my singer. However, I think I'd have to change the font in order to add a less folk music vibe to the cover.