Andrew Goodwin was a director of music and a media theorist. Upon spending his years analysing and developing upon music videos and their production, he published a book entitled Dancing In The Distraction Factory. This book told the audience all of the theories he believes reside inside music videos. He came up with some codes and conventions that he states are most typically found in every music video that has been uploaded. Genre Characteristics Music videos more often than not, include a demonstration of typical genre characteristics. And certain genres will have specific codes and conventions. For example if you were to watch a music video of a live performance, nine times out of ten its a rock or metal video, this is so the audience get an idea of the amount of energy they put into their music and just by watching the music video they see a demonstration (e.g All My Life by Foo Fighters)
Also film genres can link into this as they can have a huge impact on producing music videos, for example a lot of rock videos get inspiration from horror movies and the horror genre. He stated five key setups for a music video that help to analyse it
The stadium performances, as mentioned, are mainly used for rock music to highlight the enthusiasm and (with the use of close ups) the physical endurance. But studio sessions are more stripped back, usually used for sad and meaningful songs that will show the artist in a more vulnerable state.
Voyeurism There are frequent references to the notion of looking and the voyeuristic treatment of both genders in a sexual manual in order to sell records. This can also include the use of props, for example items such as TV screens, telescopes, binoculars or mirrors. Record Label Demands Record labels often have certain high demands, that can include things such as close ups of the artist or require a certain theme or style that recurs across their work. (For example The 1975 with their black and white era that portrayed them as sad indie musicians in order to bring in the teenage crowd that have a disposable income) Intertextual References This point is the use of other texts (such as films, TV shows, other music videos) within a music video. (e.g The Kill by 30 Seconds To Mars and their video inspired by The Shining) This can bring in an audience that are fans of the interxtual reference but also gives more depth to the production and shows there has been more thought behind it
Vernallis is a music video theorist who produced ‘The Kindest Cuts’ which explores the difference in editing between film and music videos. She talks about the role of editing when it comes to narrative, meaning, star image and the way sound and images are synchronised, as well as possible close ups of the artist and how the editing imitates the music.
Vernallis theory is based around four key concepts that all relate to the way a music video is produced: Narrative, Editing, Framing and camera movement, Diegsis.
Narrative: When she describes her theory, Vernallis suggests that music videos are a visual response to the narrative suggested in the song, which means that what is happening onscreen reflects the lyrics. She then says how narrative might not be complete and makes the video seem disjointed and appears in fragments.
Editing: One of the main conventions of editing music videos is to disrupt or break the rules of continuity editing. Also, the editing in music videos can be used as a focal point, such as editing to the beat of the music or the strum of a guitar, rather than a narrative. Music videos have a distinctive style of editing with easily noticeable conventions: Jump cuts, Breaking the 30 degree rule, Cutting to lyrics or to the beat of the music, Juxtaposed frames.
Framing and Camera Movement: Vernallis suggests that having establishing shots is a key element to music videos, as well as close ups of the artist or main subject. The camera movement is also key, as it moving in time with the beat or the lyrics is often seen in music videos. The framing is more dependent on the genre of the music, as slower love songs focus more on close ups and use out of focus shots whereas upbeat pop tunes have more full on dance style scenes which include everyone in the frame.
Diegsis: In terms of media, diegesis is the setting of the music video. Vernallis says that actions in the video are not always completed and can be disrupted, as this can lead to repetition of shots and frames which will come across as more important than other frames.
Illustrating - 'Lately I've been glowed up' 2:36 - When he says this line the editing was cut to the music with the bass kicks being edited to the lamps being turned on.
Amplifying - Rapping along - Anderson Paak 1:15.
Contradicting - the video doesn't really make sense to the lyrics or visuals.
Cutting visuals - all throughout.
Genre conventions - The video is shot in a house party scenario. This is a classic genre convention for the hip-hop genre. A lot of the conventions in this video are classically associated with the hip-hop genre but in a rebooted/ reimagined modern way in this video for example drugs, girls dancing.
In terms of conceptuality the video could be seen through the editing e.g. the song being called glowed relates to the use of lighting and filters and editing or through the idea that being glowed up ( growing up to be successful/more beautiful/) etc.
In terms of the star image there are multiple uses of mid shots and close ups to show the main artist's throughout the video. e.g. 0:57 Kaytranada and 1:15 Anderson Paak in the TV.
Voyeurism is prevalent in the video as well for example in certain shots the camera is used purposely to show off the female body for example. shallow depths of field in certain shots to put more of the focus on them.
Technical aspects. - Close ups, mid shots, long takes , choppy editing , visual filters for colours on certain shots , artificial lighting , miss en scene (plants-jungles etc.) Editing -overlapping shots 2:54 -
The video is also shot on location in Long Beach, California as is it partly one of the main references throughout the songs course. The narrative running through his song details gang life in his neighbourhood, The struggles of living where he does and the issues he has had to face throughout his life and the visuals perfectly detail the stark realities he faces. E.g. People cooking drugs, gambling, prostitution etc.
The idea of the star image is presented as well with multiple close up shots of vince while he’s rapping and also an emphasis on his performance in the video itself. Star iconography is featured as well with vince paying a lot of attention to the Crip gang ( he’s a part of ) and making that known throughout the video.
Voyeurism is demonstrated through out the video from the very offset . With vince starting the video getting out of bed with a half naked girl in it. There are also multiple shots throughout the video demonstrating this concept.
There is evidence of intertextuality in this video with vince paying homage to Snoop Dogg ( long beach native ) in which he is standing on a roof performing which is very similar to one of snoop’s early videos for the song - What’s my name.
Never gon' switch, my momma raised soldiers- when he says this a picture frame comes into shot with a picture of his mother on it , this shot is just another illustrative use of camera techniques to amplify the meanings within the video.
In terms of special effects the video contains a lot of slow motion tracking shots to give certain shots more meaning or more significance within the video for example at 1:33 somebody counting money, 1:34 somebody smoking and at 1:35 somebody rolling dice. All of the subjects for the shots have purposely been slowed down for the viewer to be able to pay more attention to certain shots to maybe pick out other meanings from the video. There’s been much speculation as to whether this song is an extended metaphor of the hood life or a mockery of fake rappers that portray that image so all the shots detail some things that are associated with that life whether it be earning money, doing drugs or gambling to maybe make the audience question things that they have seen if associated with those things.
At 1:53 Non-diegetic sound becomes diegetic through camera movements and editing. In the shot a female hand is seen reaching to a speaker on the table at the house party and she when presses the on button through editing the backing track re-enters and the bass-line returns to the song which the restarts the main point of the video.
camera - close ups , mid shots, long shots.
movement
mise em scene - guns, drugs, alcohol, girls, dominoes (gambling) gang paraphernalia ,
editing - the overall video is in black and white but the only colour shown is blue . this links to the very title of the track ‘Blue Suede’ which is a metaphor for the colours worn by the crip gang members.
sound - 1:53 non diegetic goes to diegetic through camera and editing.
special effects . slow motion, black and white.
We are very pleased with how this unit went especially the final video. We think that the video is a high quality and is of a professional standard. After planning the idea over a day, the next day we booked the music studio out at college for two days so that we had a good amount of time to get the footage that we needed.
The first day was spent getting the majority of the coverage for Lewis' verses in the song. Neither of us had shot a music video before so at first we were unsure on how to shoot so that the lyrics synced up to the footage. The way we ended up doing this was to have the song playing on a laptop in the room, which gave Lewis something to perform along to. This also acted as our way of syncing, as we imported the footage to Premiere and used the audio from the footage to align all of the clips. Our first step of editing was to simply get all of the footage in to the timeline which then allowed us to spot any areas that we didn't have coverage for. Then on the second day we got B roll footage in the studio of things like us using the instruments and Lewis writing lyrics to give the feeling that the video is showing us creating the song. We also shot footage from my car at night, driving around with the streetlights on. The gave us more footage to break the monotony of the studio footage and gave the video more variation.
In terms of things we did well, I think that we did a good job planning the video in a short amount of time. We left the planning till last minute but coming up with the idea to shoot the video in the music studio allowed us to have a confined simple idea that wouldn't mean going out of college to locations and shooting. This is why we managed to shoot the video just over two days. I also think that we utilised the studio space in an effective way, as we shot footage of most things in there and got a wide variance of shots. I also think that we managed to have a good mixture of subverting and conforming to the conventions of hip hop music videos. One of the conventions that we decided to conform to was the handheld camera movement during the performance, which is something we saw often in lower budget videos. We focused on moving around with the camera, never keeping it completely static. This also meant that because we were shooting on a low aperture lens, the shot would go out of focus until we adjusted it which I think added a nice touch to the shots.
In terms of things that we could improve on, we had clips of me singing at the start which I don't think matched the energy of the rest of the performance. This was a last minute decision to add another element to the video, but I think that if we had an actual performer they would have been able to look more natural and fit in more. We also wanted to make the footage look last crisp and digital, but I was unable to find the right effects to make this possible. I did blur it the slightest amount to make it less sharp but it didn't achieve the full effect that we were going for. This could have been aided by looking in to the effects more and familiarising myself more with Premiere Pro.
Despite this, we are both very happy with the outcome of the video and with the feedback that we've had from friends and our teachers. Here is some feedback from Twitter:
This is our final music video, to the song 'Humble Beginning' recorded by Lewis and Sam Woollard last year. The planning, filming and editing was handled by both me and Lewis.
For our music video we have decided to shoot it in the college studio and make it look like we are creating the song as we go along. The inspiration for this idea is the Beats commercial featuring Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar where they are trying to make a track and are struggling to get it right. It was this idea of breaking the rhythm of the song to show a trial and error process that drew us in.
This subverts the norm of hip hop videos because very rarely do you see the creation behind songs, you just get the final product and you don't get to see how the process might have gone down. It leads people to believe that songs are created out of thin air without problem, when in reality there is usually a countless amount of hours that goes in to the creating process.
The track that we have chose to use is Lewis' own track called 'Humble Beginning' which he created with another student last year as part of his media course. We thought that this would be a great opportunity because it would seem a lot more natural for him to be performing the song if it is actually him. Also, this avoids any copyright issues that we might encounter with songs from high profile artists, and furthermore if Lewis wanted to promote the song when he is able to focus on music then he has a video to go along with it.
With the idea of 'being humble', we could could two ways with it. As is shown in Kendrick's 'Humble', he subverted the idea of being humble, showing things like him posing as Jesus at the last supper. The other option is to conform to the idealism of 'being humble', which is the route that we want to take
Typical rap video, shots of the performer lip syncing to the song combined with landscape shots and other cut away shots that give the video a level of cinematography. Handheld camera shots of the artist that have a lot of movement to match the energy of the song. Shots are typically intercut at a fast pace to also maintain a high level of energy. Locations will be local, shooting at parks, alleyways (to give a gritty low budget feeling, also reflect the context of the music). Song is played multiple times while filming to make sure that you have enough coverage to be able to cut through multiple camera angles to keep the video from becoming repetitive.
Narrative Video, focuses more on a story in the video. There may still be shots of a performer lip syncing but the majority of the video will be used to tell a story (either relating to the subject matter in the song or something unrelated. ‘She Knows’ by J.Cole is a good example of a narrative based video. Although the narrative isn’t largely based on the subject of the song, it does have some links to it. Narrative videos require a higher level of continuity relating to this like the weather, shooting conditions, locations etc. This would require a lot more planning than a standard non narrative based video as not only do you have to think about performance shots but also come up with a short story that is easily achieved and able to be incorporated in to the video.
Studio Performance, shoot the video in a studio environment such as the college’s music studio. This could include pull focus shots of the music equipment in the studio and shots of somebody in the engineering room recording the song. This would give the feeling that you are watching the artist create the song, even though the song would have been recorded before and this is a reenactment. A good example even though it isn’t strictly a music video is
which is an advertisement for a Beats speaker featuring Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar. The video shows them recording a song but also breaks away from the studio environment when they can’t figure out what the song is missing. This is a good guide because it shows the artist passionately performing the song and also the producer recording him. It includes cut in shots of Dre adjusting sliders on his module which are shot at a low aperture giving a shadow depth of field. The camera movement in this video is either slow or completely static, showing a less distracting view of the artists in their element. The video has a high production value, being that it is a for a big company. It is shot in a huge wide open studio, which wouldn’t have been where the song was recorded, but the video is shot there to give it a grand feeling, subsequently portraying the product in a luxurious way.
There is only one point in this video that illustrates the lyrics, and it doesn't illustrate them in a clear way. During the hook of the song, Cole repeats the line "She knows, she knows" which on first listen you would assume that he means his woman knows he is being unfaithful to her. However it is the opposite, with Cole talking about a woman knowing that he has a girl at home that he has to be loyal to. Linking to the video, there is a mid shot of the boy's mother and Cole getting undressed implying that she is being unfaithful to her husband, which goes against these lyrics.
Amplifying:
The video is entirely narrative based and contains no lip syncing of the lyrics.
Contradicting:
This video builds a narrative that leads up to a scene that reveals a contradiction. The video details an adolescent skipping school with his friend, doing illegal activities such as breaking in to property and smoking and when he goes home he finds his mother cheating on his father with J.Cole. Throughout the song Cole is talking about him having to turn down a woman at the club or party because he is loyal to his woman at home, and that he 'can't be what the woman' wants.
Cutting To Music:
The video is mostly cut to music, which is aided by the fact that the song has a strong constant beat. An effective moment that cutting is use in the video is when Kyle catches his mum cheating. When he realises, the music cuts out and you get diegetic sound of his mother saying his name. There is a moment of suspense with no music, and then the music comes back in cut to a shot of him running out of his house, followed by a tracking shot of him and his friend running down the street. I think it's a very effective moment as the energy of the music matches the mood of the moment very well.
Genre:
The genre of this video is purely narrative. It tells a story of a young man skipping school with his friend and finding out that his mother is cheating on his father. The video has a high production value, being shot well, edited well and is colour graded to make it look more like an excerpt from a movie than a music video.
There are multiple points throughout this music video where the lyrics match the visuals, the first one being:
"Ayy, I remember syrup sandwiches and crime allowances
Finesse a n*gga with some counterfeits
But now I’m countin' this"
During these lyrics, Kendrick is lying down on a table surrounded by dollar bills and holding a machine that is spitting out money. This reflects the theme of being rich and overcoming a struggle to have a lot of money is he is basically bathing in dollars.
Another example is the lyric:
"My left stroke just went viral"
And during this lyric there is a shot of Kendrick on a car playing golf, to reflect the 'left stroke' lyric. Amplifying:
During the majority of this video, Kendrick is lip syncing to the lyrics, which is pretty much a staple in hip hop nowadays. Whereas other genres feature a lot of abstract videos that do not include any lip syncing, hip hop tends to favour this type of video, which allows the artist to amplify the mood that they want the song to convey.
"If I kill a n*gga it won't be the alcohol" is paired with a shot of Kendrick behind a window with multiple red dots on him, grabbing his crotch and maintaining a cocky stance. This amplifies the lyric but also contradicts it at the same time, as he goes against what he is saying by looking drunk and aggressive.
After the lyric:
"My left stroke just went viral"
Kendrick hits the gold ball which is timed to be right on the beat, further elevating the instrumental. This works well because when people hear the song without the video, they will hear the lyric and instantly visualise the video. Contradicting:
The main contradiction in this video relates to the subject of the visuals and the subject of the song. Throughout the hook on the song, Kendrick repeats the phrase:
"Sit down, be humble"
This goes against the visuals which show Kendrick being braggadocios and indulging in vices such as money, women and fine food+ wine (The Last Supper Reference). This may have been done to imply that Kendrick is exempt from his 'Be Humble' refrain and that he is above other artists.
Cutting To Music:
Right at the start of the video after two lines, the beat kicks in and the camera cuts from the establishing shot to low angle medium shot. Also throughout the song the video has a fast cutting pace which is often cut on the beat.
Genre:
The video is both a location and an experimental video. The video is shot in a variety of locations, presumably throughout L.A., including a church, the Los Angeles river and various back alleys.
Health and safety was one of our main focus' at the theatre. Once thing we did was kept the amount of wires we used to a minimum, to avoid any trips and injuries. For the majority of the close up shots, we were sat on the stage but right at the front all the way to the right, so that no performer came close enough for us to get in their way. Also we had to come off the stage and back on multiple times throughout the night when we were shooting various angles. With the stage being quite high off the ground, we made sure to use the steps at all times and were cautious when carrying the camera equipment around. We got to the venue early (about an hour before the event began) so that we could meet and talk with Amy to finalise what types of shots she wanted and also where would be best to film from to avoid any disruption and hazards. Also one of our concerns was making sure the equipment was not in the way of anybody and there was no chance of people tripping on it. To ensure this was not a problem, every time we were not using a piece of equipment we put it in it's respective bags and took them to a side room off the stage so that they didn't pose a hazard.
For our promotional unit, we (Jack & Lewis) produced a short show reel style video for our college's annual award show, Spotlight. We started by contacting the event's organiser with the idea to record it and produce a video, which they agreed would be useful. Then we got all of the talent release forms signed for all the participating students that would be in the video. On the night we took two cameras and two tripods and filmed a lot of the night so that we would have a large selection of footage to edit with.
The biggest problems that we encountered were technical issues to do with our shooting gear. Firstly, one of the tripods would not lock into position meaning that a few of the shots were handheld. Obviously this is not ideal but we combatted this by using things like the handrails as a resting platform for the camera so that the camera shake is kept to a minimum. To further minimise this we used the 'Warp Stabiliser' effect in Premiere Pro to stabilise it in post production.
Another problem that we had was that the cameras that we took out from college both had low battery. To combat this problem, we had to alternate between us recording and charging the battery so that we had a good coverage throughout the night.
For most of the night, Lewis was behind the crowd capturing wider shots that encapsulated the whole stage and Jack was on the side of the stage, getting close ups and medium to long shots. This worked well for us because it allowed us to intercut between varying shot types to maintain a high energy in the edit. To also further this, Jack moved around from one side of the stage to the other to try to keep the footage as varied as possible between each shot.
In terms of parts that went well, I think that the video itself came out well and is completed to a professional standard. We decided to keep it short and show the parts of the night with the highest energy rather than make a long winded and slow paced edit. I think this worked well for us because the video shows the night in an exciting and fast paced manor which will attract more people as opposed to the latter. Also, I think our communication skills with our client were good, as we conversed back and forth discussing the purpose of the video and gained feedback from the client. At the start of the video, music was the main concern for us as we were skeptical about getting a suitable track that would be free of copyright but we were quickly able to find a Soundcloud account that specialised in original copyright free music and after browsing the tracks we find an upbeat jazzy style track that suited the energy that we wanted to convey.
In terms of other improvements to our video, I think we could have looked in to bringing lighting of our own to brighten up the stage a bit. While it looked pleasing to an audience, the camera's were less sensitive to the light which meant that the footage was all shot at around ISO 800 meaning we had a bit of grain and the footage wasn't as clear as it could have been had we considered the lighting situation more. Another improvement would have been to use a handheld stabiliser for the cameras to give us a smoother look with the handheld shots. Although it didn't cause a major problem, some of the shots shift and move around a small amount which in the eyes of a client would signify unprofessionalism.
There was a lack of planning when it came to measuring the success of the video, due to it being unclear how we would see if we had succeeded in creating an effective video. Over time, it will become clear if the video does it's job, based on the amount of people that turn up to the event in coming years as compared to this year. However, we would've benefited more from a quicker way of seeing. One way we could have done this would have been a questionnaire that we could have sent out to friends and college students, asking questions such as "Did this video increase your interest in the event?".
Altogether I think that this unit was a success and we are very pleased with how everything came out, from the forms to the video, the editing and the feedback from our client.
Before starting the editing process of the video, I labelled all of our shots so that it's easier to sort through the footage and find the specific shots that we need.
The promotional video that we are producing will be put up on the college's website and as such needs to feature music that is completely copyright free, avoiding any risk of it being taken down due to copyright strikes. We decided to browse on Soundcloud, specifying our search to account that specialise in royalty free music.
'Alumo' is one of those accounts, creating a variety of music from jazz, ukulele, dubstep and hip hop.
This is his bio on soundcloud, which runs through his remit and and his accolades such as providing music for Sony, CBS and BBC. This made his music the perfect option for us because not only does it eliminate any worry of copyright strikes, but it assures us that he is a reputable source and what he says is the truth.
The track that we chose to use is called 'Away With You' which he classifies as 'Chillhop", a subgenre of hip hop with a laid back approach. The main reason we chose this song was because the tempo was just right for us. Some of his tracks were too bouncy and high energy, and others were slightly too relaxed and would serve better as background music. The track seems to be influences by Kanye West's early career, as it features a lot of pitched up vocals which West made famous in the mid 2000's.
This is the description of the song, which confirms that it is copyright free and is allowed to be used in videos so long as you are not making money off of them which is not something that we will be doing. There is an option to buy a commercial license if we were to monetise the video however. The one condition for free use of the track is that we credit Alumo in the description of wherever the video gets posted which we will make sure the client is aware of.
Target Audience: The video has quite an open target audience, as it shows a large variety of people at various shops. It even includes shots of different types of different classes of people, such as President Obama, families and students to show that the shops are for everybody. Mode Of Address: The mode of address is very light hearted, to reflect the happy and laid back atmosphere of the shop. It shows a young child running to her family, and a father and son which shows the customers having a good time and adds to the general positive mood conveyed by the video. Technical Conventions: One of the most prominent conventions used is the captions/ titles written over the video. They could have had a voiceover, but instead they chose to have it in written format, which allows the music to convey more of a prominent feeling, and also it keeps the themes succinct. Brand/ Identity: The video starts with an introduction to the history of Starbucks which instantly conveys the brand identity. Also the thumbnail of the video is the Starbucks logo which for people who are familiar with the brand will instantly give them the gratification of familiar iconography.
Target Audience: This video targets a few niche audiences, such as people that are interesting in fundraisers and donating to charities. The video is to spread awareness for 'Movember' and a few different issues such as mental illness, cancer and alcohol abuse, with the focus on men. It also is tailored to an audience that appreciates rugby or sports in general. This is shown simply through the large chunks of footage of the school's rugby matches, which were probably ran to raise money for the cause. Mode of Address: The video takes a combination of a formal but energetic mode of address. The video is colour graded to be slightly desaturated and looks like the grading you would see in movies rather than a short video which creates a professional and serious tone. However, the footage of the rugby matches show the players having fun and families cheering them on, which shows the participants having a good time while raising money and shows they are committed to the charities. Technical Conventions: Again, the video takes a serious approach with the music in the video which sounds like it comes from a large scale nature documentary (Planet Earth style). The fact that they used this song amplifies the message and tone of the video greatly and helps to target their specific audience. Brand Identity: The video opens with a black screen and the school's logo and name, instantly introducing the viewer to it. For friends and families of the school and people involved, it will gratify them the knowledge and familiarity, while acting as an aid for the wider audience that may be watching.
Target Audience: This is another video that targets a mainstream audience and as many people as possible. It includes footage relating to religion, architecture, urban life, culture, gaming and even music. The aim of the video is to attract as many people as possible so this is a suitable approach to the video. Mode of Address: The video is very professional with a high production quality. The video doesn't follow a strong narrative of sorts but just showcases all of the best parts of Japan. It also has an inspiring uplifting mood which is conveyed by the music paired with the beautiful visuals which portrays the country is a glamorous way. Technical Conventions: The video makes large use of hyperlapses which are essentially timelapses but shot on a moving trajectory to help cover a large amount of ground and showcase many things all in a short amount of time. This is suitable for the video because it shows how jam packed the country is and how much there is to offer in often small spaces. This helps to show both the beautiful scenic areas and also the busy urban cities. Brand Identity: In the case of this video the identity doesn't belong to a brand but the country at large. It focuses on regional and cultural iconography and also has a stamp at the end representing the country.
Target Audience: The target audience for this video is potential university students that are considering where to go for their education. The university business is a very competitive one and they need to attract as many students as possible to build their reputation and make as much money for the government and country. This means that the campus' often create high quality promotional videos that showcase the campus and facilities to make the centre appealing. Mode of Address: There is no dialogue in this video but simply cinematic shots showing life on campus as a relaxing and uplifting time, and this high production value creates a professional and informal mode of address, so students know they will have a laid back and enjoyable time. Technical Conventions: The video uses a lot of shots with a shallow depth of field and this helps to create a soft looking video. This probably wasn't done to create a meaning but simply to give the video a certain look and feel. It also uses a lot of slow tracking shots which adds to the calm and relaxed feeling of the short. Brand Identity: The only brand identity in the video is the fact that it shows the campus' buildings and facilities, which I feel is something the video could improve upon simply by having the university's logo at the start or end of the video, or even having a voiceover or testimonials.
