Music Video
Andrew Goodwin’s idea of clear link between the lyrics and visuals can be applied to my music video. The ballet performance helps the lyrics visually be understood, there is a part of the song ‘feel the tears roll down’, the ballerina signifies this lyric by performing a step where she her arms gradually go down as she is representing the tears rolling down. Andrew Goodwin also established that there can be links between the music and visuals. This is regarding pace and how often cuts are made and the speed of these cuts. The pace varies throughout my video and on the slow parts and verses, longer cuts are shown to allow the audience to take in what is being shown and connect with the singer. The chorus and faster parts of the song tend to have faster cuts so that the visuals don’t contradict with the beat of the song.
Alongside, Andrew Goodwin’s narrative theory can be applied;
Goodwin talks about the 5 key aspects for music videos, 1. Thought beats,
seeing the sound 2. Narrative and Performance – some sense of narrative can be
applied where it shows the performer becoming a stronger and getting over a
break up 3. The Star Image – the performer is portrayed as a star who is
sharing her emotions with the audience. 4. Relations of visuals to song – The ballet
performance have been a big aspect to visually relating to the song. 5.
Technical aspects of music video – the use of wide variety of technical
equipment to create a technical meaning to the music video.
My music video uses, develops and also challenges forms and conventions
of real media products in terms of using different aspects of techniques to
construct meaning, Firstly, my music video uses different techniques to
construct meaning, both techniques; symbolic and technical are used to portray
some sort of meaning however there is more focus on technical technique, where meaning
is constructed using technical equipment used to shoot the music video. Furthermore,
through the use of key concept areas such as Camera, Editing and Mise-en-scene
have been taken into consideration and those forms and conventions of real
media texts have been followed, developed into my own or been challenged for my
own media products. Camera angles, camera movement, types of shot and the pace
and style of editing used to not only match the genre but to create meaning. I
have used a wide variety of angles and camera shots, especially low angles and
close ups to emphasis the facial expression of the actor, whereas long shots
were used for the ballet performance.
My music video leans more over to the performance convention
of music videos. This style mainly consist of the actor performing, In my video
I use this conventions and have two performers, one as the music artist and one
as a ballet performer. Using technical equipment such as steadicam has benefited
me into getting a close up shot of the performance and zooming out gradually. In
my music video, there is a lot of steadicam shots used especially for the
artist performer, this is because a steadicam can create cold continuous shots,
and as there is direct address in my music video, it also gives this sense of
the audience being part of this performance.
When I researched into R&B music videos from popular
artists such as Rihanna and Beyoncé. I decided to adapt those conventions into
my own music video, however I feel like I have challenged them because the song
I have chosen ‘Crying for no Reason’ has an element of breaking up but is fast
tempo. Furthermore, I also found out
that if a song is a typical break up song, it is usually shot in a plain black
room with minimal items or no items as the song tends to focus on the artist by
using close up to show significant figure expressions. Another common conventions seen is all videos is
when the artist is singing to the camera, it cuts to another part of the music
video or a narrative that flows along with the song, this is evident in my
music video however it is challenged, because my whole music video is a
performance based video, so there are many close ups of the performer singing
in few locations and then it cuts to the ballerina performing in a studio.
In terms of editing off my music video, in order to match
the pace of the audio and ensure the ballet performance in is sync such effects
like slow motion creates this smooth and graceful effect of the ballet
performance, I have used slow motion mainly at the beginning where there is
also the use of cross dissolve of the artist and the ballet performance. This
effect also introduces the music video and suits the opening of the audio where
it is instrumental and low tempo and gives the audience a chance to take in the video and focus solely on the
artist’s movement. I also followed a conventions of using
colour filters throughout the music video, I have uses the greyscale filter to
show emotion. I have also added a sepia tone to the ballet performance. Time
Remapping gave a great effect to slow certain parts of the ballet performance,
especially when the ballerina pirouettes few times on the spot and then then smoothly
go back to its original speed.
Mise-en-scene hasn’t been a big contribution in terms of
specific props to create meaning however as it’s a performance video, the
visual look of the performance and locations are needed to be taken into
consideration. The locations I have used; the studio for both artist performance
and studio performance to match up to the typical convention of a break up
song. When it comes to the outfits and
the make-up looks, in a break up song, the artist would be wearing dark
clothes. A lot of nude coloured/natural makeup will be used to convey the sense
of natural beauty, because there a lot of close ups on the artists face. For my
own music video I have somehow challenged this convention in terms of
mise-en-scene, the performer of my music video is wearing make-up to emphasise
her beauty. The typical make-up look of smokey eyes and red lips with her hair
out has been followed due to the ‘dance’ element in the song.
Where lighting is considered, when it came to shooting in
the drama studio, I had set the lights differently for both studio shoots. For the
Artist performer, I had two lights besides her, roughly around 3 metres away
from her, alongside one behind her right shoulder, slight in the corner. I
wanted a black background with the performer standing out which went successful
as I wanted to a connection between the performer and the audience, with the
emotion created with the black studio as it puts the performer in the spotlight
as the audience would only be focused on them instead of the extra props. In the ballet performance scenes, there is
mild sepia tone to them, which gives this mood to the music video.
The performer has to be key aspect of
the music video as they need to be able to portray the emotions and feelings of
the song through clearly. Looking at music videos by Rihanna (Diamonds), Katy B
(Still), Ellie Goulding (Beating Heart) and The Script (Hall of Fame), they all
have an element of performance which I have been inspired to use and develop
into my own music video. I needed someone who can clearly portray a typical ‘break
up’ feeling. Natalie is a drama student
and she is great in performing, her confidence proved she can fit perfect in
the part; furthermore Holly is an experienced ballerina who also showed
confidence and had bought in some emotions through her performance/dance
routine.
Overall, I believe that
I have used, developed and challenged all conventions of real media products;
there is a strong use of relations of visuals and music alongside performance
being on spot to create a relationship with the audience. Typical camera shots,
editing and mise-en-scene were conventions where I have developed and slightly
challenged for my own media product.
Magazine Advert
When it came to the
creation of my magazine advert, as a target audience myself, I was able to know
what could typically attract the audience, and with this option, the
conventions were clearly used and adapted to fit in with this genre of music of
R&B.
In terms of my draft of
my digipak, I decided to use a red kiss mark as the front cover, firstly because
the album name ‘little red’ signifies something to do with love and with the image
of the red lips, it signifies some sort of love letter left behind as a
goodbye.
Camera –
Mise-en- scene – image
of the red lips and the kiss with red gradient font to white – the image links
in with the album name ‘little red’. As when the word red is said, immediately
there are connotations of love.
Editing – manipulation
of the image and text – position of the text at the top and the bottom
I have done portrait
and landscape version of the magazine adverts.
Digipak
In terms of the draft
of my digipak, it digipak follows the same image as the magazine advert. It follows
the same house style of red, black and white alongside the positioning of the
images and the layout of the text matching.
Front cover features
the album name and the artist alongside the image.
Inside pages – the second
page features an image of Natalie with a thank you message for the fans. The Cd
page has got the CD on it with its potential look of it. There is text written
on the edges with the name of the album written on the top.
Back page – the album
name and below is the tracklist – in a style of few digipaks I have seen – I have
used and developed this convention to my own media product. I also included
institutional information such as the barcode, CD format, social media and the
production information. I have once again followed typical conventions that are
commonly seen in digipaks.
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