Music Video Analysis 2; Pixie Lott - Mama Do

Throughout the video, various techniques are used to engage the audience


White = Innocence/purity/angel
Red= Danger/love/lust/devil
The two colours contrast and are both seen throughout the video.


Close up shots of her eyes and her facial expressions. The camera pans out a lot to show the mise-en-scene and where the girls are dancing.


Many quick edits used and fast pace movement. As she is looking into the camera, she is connecting with the audience and makes the video much more personal.


Females used are all very seductive in the way they perform and the all female cast is to attract both young female girls and boys.


Pixie Lott shot in the middle, rule of thirds. Focus on her as the main protagonist in the narrative of the music video.


The mise-en-scene of the school locker room shows the young and fun side to her.

Music Video Analysis 3; One Republic - All The Right Moves

One Republic is an American rock band from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Formed in 2002 by Ryan Tedder and Zach Filkins, the band achieved massive success on MySpace, becoming the most prominent unsigned act on the website then.

The start of the music video is not music but dialogue between the people in the room the video is set in. Close ups of faces are seen as the dialogue fades out and there is silence. This shows the tension in the room; a ticking sound is heard, explaining the tension furthermore. An ariel shot of the band walking in shows the way in which everyone in the room is watching them, adding a sense of mystery to the music video. In the mise-en-scene, we see masks worn by those in the video, furthermore adding to the mystery. Fast edit are used to show the room and the band walking up to the stage.

As the music starts, edit cuts are used when the beat changes in the song.  A lot of performance is used with the dancers in time with each other, making the visual to the music video more engaging. Close ups of the artists and the instruments eg guitars are used to show facial expressions and a closer connection with the audience. At 2.06 in the video, a fade is used as he sings "the sun is shining every day" and he looks up; this is the lyrics being illustrated in the video. Additionally, following camera movements are used on those on the dance floor, showing them from a distance and close ups to see their facial expressions.

Voyeurism

Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other activity usually considered to be of a private nature.

In music videos, voyeurism is used widely to engage audiences and is mainly close ups of womens bodies. Most genres do this and is used to show women in a particular way.

This video shows several women and a

man performing aerobics in a very sexual manner. 

This intices the audience to watch more and

demonstrates the theory of voyeurism. 

This video shows many close ups of women who are doing aerobics' bottom and chest.

Goodwin Voyeurism Essay

Goodwin Theory on Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin, has recognised a various amount of key features in music videos. These all contribute to the video and the relationship between things such as the lyrics and visual; illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics. This is also similar with the relationship between the music and the visuals. Furthermore, Goodwin describes voyeuristic treatment of the female body and multiple close ups of the main artist too. Finally, he describes music videos as demonstrating genre characteristics and intertextual references to other media texts.

In Justin Timberlake’s ‘What Goes Around Comes Back Around’ music video, a directors cut is seen from the start. This reflects Goodwins view that intertextual references are used in music videos; a directors cut is a edited part of a film. The song has also been described a sequel for his music video ‘Cry Me A River’. In the directors cut, sexual tension is used to emphasise the relationship between the characters. This further indicates what may happen in the music video, giving the audience an insight into the meaning of the song.

In addition, the lyrics and the visual illustrate what is being shown through the use of the first shot of what looks like a car wheel spinning around, suggesting ‘ what goes around comes around. Additionally, as Timberlake is singing, he spins around in a circle as his moves his arms in circular movements. This illustrates the title of the song and what he is trying to get across to the audience; karma will get you. Although, as the music video continues, we see a sense of the music video being amplified; the shots seen reflect what is being said too. Yet, the music and the visuals contradict. The beat of the music is out of time as the narrative is fragmented, yet as he claps his head in a shot that is of a lower angle, he claps in time to the beat of the music. This shows the relationship between the music and visuals illustrates too.

The sexual tension between the two characters is clearly visible as throughout the music video, they are very much in close contact and intimately kissing. This shows Goodwins theory that voyeurism is often present in music videos. Close up shots are used throughout on the women protagonist to exemplify her sexual side and the way in which she is seen as the ‘dangerous’ person in the video. This is also seen by the fragmented camera work and the fragmented body shots sexualising the women in the video. The way in which the women are dressed is in a very provocative way; this illustrates the idea of sex and sexuality and is a clear example of voyeurism being used. 

During the middle of the music video, the music cuts yet again for a dialogue to be heard between those in the video; this shows the fragmented narrative yet illustrates the storyline to the audience. The genre characteristics are seen through Timberlake’s acting as he normally has sexual connotations to his music, with close references to women being seen as sexy and provocative. He also plays a big role in the production process of music videos and through his iconography, is repeatedly releasing good quality music videos which are recognised by his similar techniques, such as voyeurism.

The technical aspects are also seen through the lighting in the video; the dim lighting reflects the mood of the song and illustrates what may happen as it has negative connotations. Moreover, the use of bedrooms and swimming pool scenes when the protagonists are kissing show the range of mis en scene’s to keep the audience engaged and wanting more. As the narrative progress, the lighting gets brighter, emphasising a dramatic moment. Slow movement shots are used to let the audience engage and understand what the narrative is and what is trying to be said through the video. As the beat of the song changes to a faster pace, cars racing off at nearer the end of the video are seen, reflecting how the tension is building; furthermore Timberlake now sings straight into the camera, connecting with his audience in order to show the importance of what he is saying. The cuts into the car crash at the end of the video express the meaning of the title of the song and explore the moral behind the video. Furthermore, the special effects used on the car crash scene show the production of the video and as Goodwin describes, show the demand of the record label as they would want the video to be intriguing and over the top to appeal to audiences.

The intertextual references in this music video can be described as references from a film. This directors cut and various cuts to no music yet just dialogue explain the way in which a film may be. The narrative is fragmented yet through the use of the various techniques that the director has used; the storyline is still intact and easy to understand.

Preliminary Task

Through doing the preliminary task, we learnt that as group we had disagreements and had to compromise on what we wanted the final video to look like. We also learnt that a tripod is essential when filming as much of our footage is shaky and not steady. We did not pick the best performer as Jordan was not confident enough yet tried hard and we appreciated that. The preliminary task was not the best it could have been yet we felt as our group was so big, we had many disagreements and could not decide on what song or locations should be picked. No storyboards were use much of the time was spent arguing over what we wanted to actually storyboard which meant the filming was improvised and it was difficult in knowing what to film.

Little Red Riding Hood - Fragmented Narrative

 

In this storyboard, not only am I describing a disjunctive music video, a sense of fragmented narrative is seen. Fragmented narrative show the way in which narrative are broken up into smaller bits so you don't get the same story. As I have removed half the frames, the story is now fragmented. In contrast to this storyboard, music videos such as Michael Jacksons - Thriller show a narrative that is not fragmented but a full narrative. This is a following music video which is easy to understand. 

Red Riding Hood - Goodwin/ Disjunctive

 

In this storyboard, the shots are used to show a disjunctive music video in order to show the contrast between the story of little red riding hood and what can be seen in these storyboards. As Goodwin describes, disjunctive music videos work by ignoring the original song and creates new meanings. This shows a sense of difference and uniqueness. Additionally, as we can see in my storyboard, the story doesn't match the storyboard.