Video Inspiration & ANALYSIS: Narrative

In order to come up with a narrative that we think best fits our song (as seen in our treatment pitch, we researched into existing songs with a narrative that we thought we could be inspired by.

Songs we looked at include:

1. This Is Gospel - Panic! At The Disco
2. Spotless Mind - Jhene Aiko
3. Blank Space - Taylor Swift

1. This Is Gospel - Panic! At The Disco

The beginning of the music video features a a long pan of a young man on a hospital bed. The setting is a black room with a white hospital bed. This is an usual setting of a hospital, as it's dark with minimal lighting. This suggests to the audience that the protagonist is not an ordinary patient, and has been isolated in some type of way. The only two colours shown in the music video in the opening scene is white and black, which suggests mystery. The colour palette is quite dark, which doesnt grab the audiences attention, but is effective for creating a sense of loneliness. The protagonist makes eye contact with the camera, which makes it personal, as it breaks the fourth wall, and makes a kind of connection with the audience. Half of the artists face is covered with a shadow, which could suggest that he has two personalities. What I particularly like about the narrative of this video, is that the audience is able to decide on what they think the meaning is. Does he have two personalities? Does he have a mental illness? etc...

The whole video portrays him being helped by other people to prepare him for death. 

2. Spotless Mind - Jhene Aiko

The narrative of this music video is based on a rather controversial topic which isn't really touched on in many videos. This is Borderline Personality Disorder. The lyrics fit in well with the narrative, with narcissistic traits. The main character sees herself as the most important, and puts her wants and needs before anyone elses. This therefore ruins her relationship, as we see at the end of the video, where her love interest gives her a note which says 'I'm leaving you'. Due to her personality, we can see that she drains the energy, patience and sanity out of the one that is close to her. 

This theme is conveyed by having a range of scenarios to show her change in personality in the course of one whole day. The video begins at 8am on saturday and ends at night. This is effective as it allows the audience to follow the storyline without missing out the plot. 

The music video is quite quirky, with the use of colour, a range of locations and settings. It is not filmed in one location, as it needs to fit the scenario being conveyed, therefore making it quite humorous. 

3. Blank Space - Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift is known for using a strong narrative to convey a message in her music videos. Blank Space shows the course of her relationship with someone. She is represented as a sweet, girly and lovesick young woman who can be seen as having a 'perfect' relationship. Her and her love interest are seen doing a lot of activities together (which shows the happy side of her relationship). This includes riding together, having a picnic, horse riding etc. This depicts how she is in a normal, happy relationship. This then later turns sour as she starts to become jealous and angry when she sees him on his phone. This is then accompanied by lyrics such as 'Who is she?' 'I get drunk on jealousy'. This shows how jealousy turns the female protagonists mean and unbearable. This is then confirmed with the lyrics 'darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream'. This is the followed by visuals of the female protagonist retaliating, and a change in personality can be seen.
What is particularly interesting is the use of an apple, which can have a religious meaning, of Adam and Eve and the garden of Eden. Eve was able to control Adam into eating the apple, which shows a kind of dominance over him. In terms of this video, the female is seen using an apple to control the male protagonist. As she bites into an apple, he spits it out. This shows how she has some control over him based on her craziness. 

Audience Feedback From Pitch

Below are the post-it notes which contain the audience feedback received, after presenting our pitch.

As seen on the post it notes

"Love the exploration of mental illness and gender empowerment. Also love to aspect of different lighting! It will be very effective! How will you stray from the glorification of mental illnesses though?"
"In terms of editing, how are you going to represent her change in personality?"
"How are you going to recreate the 'How deep is your love' section?"
"Are you going to conform to the indie genre?"
"How does your lyrics relate to the narrative idea?"
"Where are you going to film the hospital scenes?"
"How will you get the hospital props? the bed?"
"Are you sure the school hall/house locations will look professional enough for your video?"
"How are you going to make the two extremes link?('American dream' vs 'Mental institute')"
"Why has the female protagonist got control over her boyfriend?"
"Really like the idea and the inspiration video that you showed. How/where would you get the doctors equipment, e.g. needle, oxygen mask etc."
"Are you following the narrative video compilation completely?
(Really like it!!)
"How are you going to reveal the protagonists multiple personality disorder? love the video"
"How are you going to approach such a touchy subject and not offend the audience?"
"How do you plan on showing the projections?"
"Have you done any research into 'Madness' as a taboo controversial subject?"
"Love all of the ideas for the video! i especially love the idea of the bit of Gigi Hadid"
"We love the projecting images. Not sure about the school location. How would you show she has taken control?"

Treatment Pitch

Above is the video of our treatment pitch. Where we presented exactly what we would like to explore in our music video. We spoke about elements like the location, characters, props and costumes and as well as the narrative. (Please do wait for the prezi presentation to load)

After doing research into our chosen genre, song and artist, we were able to deliver a pitch with the necessary headings. Annotating the lyrical content of our chosen song (as seen in a previous post) was really helpful, as it gave us a guideline and an idea of what we wanted to achieve. After having difficulties coming to a conclusion on what we wanted our music video to be about, we did more research and looked into loads of music videos, which we edited together to create a short clip of what we want and how we want our video. Our idea for our music video conforms to Andrew Goodwins theory of a music video as it demonstrates genre characteristics which include: 

1.Thought through beat (seeing what the lyrics mean in your head)
2. Narrative and performance of the song
3. Technical aspects of a music video
4. Star Image (the protagonist), the use of lots of camera shots to make him/her the center of attention
5. Relationship between visuals (either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics

Our Narrative:

For our video we wanted to create a narrative that could allow us to touch on controversial subjects, which is why we chose to focus on mental illness, specifically multiple personality disorder. We want to start our video with a hospital scene of the main character being incarcerated, and scenes of our protagonist 'switching' personalities with shots inspired from the 'How Deep is Your Love' video. Our narrative will then follow flashbacks of a seemingly normal relationship before the protagonists illness starts to destroy this, and we will aim to explore how mental illness can have affects on the sufferer's relationships. We also want to explore gender superiority and illustrate how she comes to dominate and 'control' her partner as a result of her conflicting personalities.

INDIE RESEARCH - Sia: Target Audience

"Sia is not defined by a single genre or meter"

She started as a jazz funk and R&B artist, and has also done dance pop with David Guetta. Her pop is categorized as as 'down tempo.' She is very musically versatile in her genres. She makes music for her fans and target audience to enjoy and also understand and feel where she is coming from.

Sia is one of the most distinctive and anonymous figure in pop and indie music. Her music talks about her life and struggles and sends a message to her target market. Young girls who may be going through the similar situation. Sia often describes herself as a survivor. Fame has been hard on her and she has spoken so openly about her addictions and suicide attempts.

Interview With Sia

Video Inspirations: Visual Effects

1. Style - Taylor Swift

Taylor Swifts 'Style' music video is one of our main inspirations. The visual effects are outstanding, although there's little narrative. The video runs solely on overlapping of different images and visuals over one another, in order to convey a message or create a graphic match. What makes it stand out from a lot of other videos in its genre, is the fact that even though what the artist is singing about isnt explicitly conveyed, the audience still has a clear idea on what the song and narrative is on. The video also demonstrates Goodwins theory of matching the lyrics with the visuals (as seen below). 

The overlapping of the male protagonists face over the females, and vice versa has some meaning. It could suggest how the female protagonist has some type of power over her lover, and that results in him being unable to move on from her. This therefore leaves her still in the picture, even if he may not want that. The graphic match is very prominent in this video, and using this in our music video, shows our variety in techniques used. Therefore we will definitely like to experiment with the technique used in this music video. 

2. Pressure - Jhene Aiko

The lighting technique used in this video is very effective, as it turns all focus to the artist. The artists image (white dreadlocks) stands out, allowing us the viewers to see how shes represented and her overall look. The video makes use of minimal lighting, and when lighting is used, it helps to make certain aspects of the setting to stand out. The narrative is set in one location, with the change of props, to match the story being told. The artists storyline is the main focus which is important. 

Thinking Of Ideas & Annotating

My group and I printed out the lyrics for our chosen song 'Free The Animal'. In order to get an idea of what we wanted to convey in our music video, we annotated the lyrics, according to the words which stood out. Due to the lyrical content of our song behind about a woman who is madly in love with someone, to the point where she would kill the person, we decided that we would explore the theme of 'madness'. Once we started annotating the lyrics, we gained more insight on what we wanted exactly for our music video. Even though my group and I were so banked on doing a full on abstract music video, we realised how powerful and meaningful the lyrics to our song was. So therefore we have decided to explore the narrative aspect of the song, while still using some great editing techniques. 

The Music Industry // Vevo

Vevo is a music hosting service jointly owned & operated by Universal Music Group (UMG), Google, Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and Abu Dhabi Media 

Launched: December 8 2009 and has over 4 billion monthly views globally. 

Vevo has a library of over 75K HD music videos, exclusive original programming and live concert performances. This is brought to everyone on the planet who loves music at any time and on any screen. 

Videos are released through the website VEVO.com, apps that are developed for mobile phones & tablets (iOS, Android, Windows) and connected televisions. "Vevo exclusively sell their audiences to brand marketers and currently have over 900 major advertisers who see value in using their platform and programming to reach their target audience."

 To the left is a screen shot of Vevo's website, where audience can browse whats new and even create an account for themselves. 

The website also includes original shows by Vevo and premieres of upcoming music videos and shows.

The 'Browse' tab is separated into different categories such as 

-Popular Artists 

-What's Hot 

-Live Performances 

-Top videos of the week 

-Emerging Artists. 

This is a screenshot of Vevos Youtube channel which has over 11 million subscribers. The channel features interviews, New video releases which then leads you to each individual artists YouTube channel.

Sia Vevo YouTube Channel

To the left is Sia's Vevo channel which features all her music videos and video teasers. The channel also includes just audio versions of songs, as well as behind the scene footages. She has over 4 million subscribers and uses this platform to promote herself and her music.

Video Inspirations - Visual Effects

After deciding that we would be focusing more on the visual effects and editing part of our music video, it was appropriate to research already existing music videos which meets the look that we aim to achieve. My group and I are very open in terms of different editing techniques that we could experiment with, in order to create an appropriate music video for our chosen target audience.
Below are a few music videos that I really like, and think we could get some inspiration from.

1. How Deep Is Your Love - Calvin Harris & Disciples 

Genre: Deep House 

Director: Emil Nava

Editor: Ellie Johnson

Producers: Danyi Deats, Lanette Phillips, Angela Gregory

Production Company: London Alley

The video stars model Gigi Hadid who plays a dazed, slightly confused and mystifying young woman who wakes up in some kind of ward, and then finds herself in a glamorous but confusing world of yacht parties and underground raves. 

Although the narrative is not as powerful, the visual effects and techniques used in the video are very striking and effective. Colour and movement is a key element in this video. What I particularly like is the rapid change in colour as the character changes her position. It represents a lot of things, and can be interpreted differently. It could either symbolize her change in attitude, location or character. This is a technique I think can be easily recreated in a photography studio, with the use of studio lights and a very dark room. Although there is no lip syncing, Andrew Goodwins theory of a music video has been demonstrated in this video. The star image (being the female protagonist) has been focused on through the use of camera shots to make her the centre of attention.

 

2. Where Are You Now - Justin Bieber with Jack U

In this music video, Justin Bieber becomes a piece of art, who becomes the subject of a kaleidoscopic of fan-made doodles and graffiti for the visual imagery which accompanies the song. (Taken from the Daily Mail) 

When making the music video, Justin and Jack U (Skrillex and Diplo) invited fans to the Seventh Letter Gallery in Los Angeles to sketch on video stills which was later incorporated into the visuals of the music video, with the singers silhouette. Justin became an interactive art installation which hung on the walls of the gallery, for fans to doodle on. There were no restrictions or boundaries for what could be scribbled on or added as it allowed fans to let their imagination run wild. The video was created as an ode to the fans who have supported them. 

What I particularly like about the video, is how the camera zooms into a picture frame hung on the wall. which then leads to a moving visual of the same image. The fast paced editing of the gallery is very effective as it moves in time with the beat of the song, although the visuals have nothing to do with the lyrics. The designs that the fans have created has been layered no top of Justin. 

Below are some photos of the doodles which have been featured in the music video.

The Music Industry

Music Video Television Channels

Below is research into 5 music video television channels which are shown in the UK

1. MTV (UK & Ireland)

Launched in 1 July 1997. The channel was set up to provide audiences with local artists and more relevant music content. The channel is in over  10 million homes in the UK and Ireland.
Owned By: Viacom International Media Networks Europe
Language: English
Picture Format: 576i (SDTV 16.9) 1080i (HDTV)

2. Heart TV

 On 3 July 2012, Global Radio announced it would launch a TV channel of the same name, Heart. The channel, along with a TV channel of the same name for sister radio station Capital,  show music videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and feature some exclusive content.
Owned By: Global Television (Global Group)
Language: English
                                                    Picture Format: 16:9 576i (SDTV)
                                                      Country Broadcast: United Kingdom
                                                      Sister Channel: Capital

 

 

3. Magic (TV Channel)

A British music television station which plays mainly easy listening music videos and is based on the Magic Radio network. Magic operated a jukebox service where viewers were able to request videos to be played via a premium-rate telephone number. The channel is available on many platforms.
Owned By: The Box Plus Network (Bauer Media Group/Channel                                                          Four Television Corporation)
                                                     Language: English
                                                     Picture Format: 576i (16:9 SDTV)
                                                     Some sister channels: 4seven, Channel 4, Film4, E4, More4 etc

 

 

4. Capital TV

Launched on 11 October 2012 along with Heart TV. The channel plays non-stop music videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and feature exclusive content such as the Jingle Bell Ball.
Owned By: Global Television (Global Group)
Language: English
Picture Format: 16:9 576i (SDTV)
Country Broadcast: United Kingdom
Sister Channel: Heart

 

 

4. 4Music TV

Was originially 'The Hits' but rebranded as 4Music. The channel shows a range of pop centred on the chart hits and current favourites. The channel plays an automated selection of videos and countdown shows presented by celebrities and singers past present.
Owned By: Box Television (Bauer Group/Channel 4)
Language: English
Country Broadcast: United Kingdom
Slogan: "Such a good feeling"

INDIE RESEARCH - Sia: Album Covers

Sia Furler - 'Only See' (1997)

Release date: December 23, 1997

1. Artist: Sia
   Label: Flavoured Records
   Genre: Trip hop

The album cover is quite unusual but effective. It features an eye, which relates to the name of the album. What I particularly like is the editing of the album which is not done to look realistic but rather unusual. The blue of the eye is of a similar (not the same) colour of the sky, which shows a sort of balance.

Sia Furler - 'Healing Is Difficult' (2001)

1. Release date: 9 July 2001
   Artist: Sia
   Label: Columbia
   Genre: Trip hop alternative rock

The album cover is a portrait of the artist with writing on her face. This album cover once again relates to the name of the album. The writing on her face shows how she is taking time to heal, but may still have some scars from past hurt and injury.

Sia Furler - 'Colour The Small One' (2004)

Release date: January 19, 2004

1. Artist: Sia
   Label: Universal Music LLC, Astralwerks, Universal Music Oy
   Genre: Alternative Rock, Indie Pop

This album includes tracks that were all              co-written by Sia. It features three blocks which help to hold each letter of her name, which is covered with flowers. The album cover has been edited in a way that the colours of the flowers on the album match the colour of the album itself. This shows a sense of place and balance once again.

Sia Furler - 'Some People Have Real Problems' (2008)

Release date: January 8, 200
Artist: Sia
Label: Hear Music                                   Genre: Pop music, Electronic music

This album displays a more upbeat pop-style than Sia's previous downbeat albums. Sia shares the inspiration for the album:
 "During recording people would come in and complain about traffic, and I'd say, 'Some people have real problems.' Like, they're waiting for a lung or they don't have a mum," she says. "I thought it would be a funny name for an album. And then I thought if I were to get rich and successful I would remember to not turn into an asshole. But I am one, so it didn't work."
The albums writing is of a childs writing, with what looks like crayon. The artists face is also written on, which is of a child-like character, while she's holding colour markers. 

Sia Furler - 'We Are Born' (2010)

Release date: June 18, 2010

1. Artist: Sia
   Label: RCA Records, Monkey Puzzle Records
   Genre: Pop music, Indie Pop, Dance-pop

This album cover is unique, as you don't know what to expect. The album doesn't really reflect her but more about the music, which is reflective on the album cover. 

Sia Furler - '1000 Forms of Fear' - 2014

Release date: July 4, 2014
Artist: Sia
Label: RCA Records
Genre: Pop music, Synthpop, Electropop

This album cover is mysterious, as we don't see the artist but know the hair represents her. The album being black represents fear and terror which reflects the name of the album. 

Mood Boards

This mood board conveys the cinematography we would like for our music video. Close up shots, mid shots, wide shots and extreme close up shots are camera angles we would like to focus on in, as this focuses on the protagonists emotions, character and behaviour. High angle shots help to show how the protagonist is inferior and less dominant due to their current situation. While wide shots help to exaggerate their isolation and loneliness from the rest of society.
Close up shots can be used for the lip syncing part of the music video and also show the artists emotion of the song through facial expressions.

My mood board for costume and overall look for our protagonist includes screenshots from music videos that represents the protagonist as crazy and over the top. This is the kind of look we want for our artist in our music video. As she wouldn't be represented as the ordinary female artist. This look includes smudged make up, black hair, red lip stick, leather, all black outfits etc. However on the other hand we could show the difference in character between our protagonist as she progresses throughout the video. So this may be by her in the stereotypical 'sweet girl' outfit (Lana Del Rey) which includes a dress, flower in the hair and curls. We could then show how she changes as the video progresses.

The lighting used in a lot of Indie songs are off a low key and mysterious looking, which is what makes the music videos more interesting. We would like to incorporate a range of techniques in our music video, by using techniques such as backdrops and studio lighting.Having a completely black background with the character so evidently in the foreground helps to show their isolation and also how they are the most important people in that particularly scene.
Another technique which we would like to explore is overlapping and cutting and pasting certain shots inside other shots (as seen in Taylor Swift 'Style'). This gives a different perspective and view on the video, as the viewer can interpret it however. Low key lighting is very effective in order to present our character in a mysterious way.

Although we dont know any specific locations for our music video yet, we have an idea of what we would like to use in order to represent our character. Mysterious looking, dark locations are effective in order to represent the protagonist as 'lonely' 'isolated' and even perhaps 'crazy'. Using a dark location allows us to add some colour in areas which are least expected, in order to add some mystery and convey a message. This could be by using a flash of light in a dark hallway.
Alternative, for the narrative part of our music video, we could use locations with a bit more colour, such as parks, a beach and generally locations with a lot of greenery. This shows the contrast in locations and scenery

Vlog 1

MoneySuperMarket Advert

This MoneySupermarket advert is a perfect example of a video which has nothing to do with the music played over. The visuals don't match the lyrics of the song, while what is being advertised doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the visuals either. Although the song talks about being sexy, the visuals contradict the kind of person who would normally be used for a video like this, in which the character needs to act 'sexy'. This therefore makes it humorous and allows the audience to take it lightly and perhaps laugh a little bit, as it is unlikely to happen in real life.
What I particularly like is the shots used, such as an aerial shot, which is normally used in tv dramas and films, which is more serious. The video is also edited to beat, as the main character dances to the song played.
The final shot of the video emulates the shot of Miley Cyrus in 'Wrecking Ball' in which Miley is represented as 'sexy' (which is questionable)

Wrecking Ball

MoneySuperMarket

You're so money supermarket...You don't even know it...

VMAs 2015! (MTV Video Music Awards)

VMAs News

VMAs News

This Years VMAs, have just recently past, however leaving behind all the news, award winners and 'presidential announcements'.
The VMAs included performances from the likes of Nicki Minaj who was accompanied by Taylor Swift, who then performed her award winning single 'Bad Blood', Justin Bieber who performed his new single 'What Do You Mean' which was released a day before the VMAs, Demi Lovato and many other artists.
Winners:

'Video of the Year' - Bad Blood (Taylor Swift)
'Best Female Video' - Blank Space (Taylor Swift)
'Best Male Video' - Uptown Funk (Bruno Mars)
'Best Hip-Hop Video' - Anaconda (Nicki Minaj)
'Best Pop Video' - Blank Space (Taylor Swift)
'Best Choreography' - I wont let you down (OK Go)
'Best Rock Video' - Uma Thurman (Fall Out Boy)
'Artist To Watch Award' - Fetty Warp (Trap Queen)
'Best Direction' - Alright (Kendrick Lamar)
'Best Collaboration' - Bad Blood (Taylor Swift)
'Best Editing' - 7/11 (Beyonce)
'Best Cinematography' - Never catch me (Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus)
'Best Visual Effects' - Where Are U Now (Justin Bieber)
'Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award' - Kanye West
'Best Video with social message' - One man can change the world (Kanye West, Big Sean, John Legend)
'Best Art Direction' - So many pros (Snopp Dogg)
'Best song of the summer' - She's kinda hot (5 seconds of summer)

Video Of The Year

Video of the year was awarded to Taylor Swift for her incredibly written and directed video 'Bad Blood'. What makes this video particularly interesting is the fact that it has such a unique narrative and makes use of so many other female celebrities, which is quite unusual in Hollywood. It makes use of a lot of graphics and possibly CGI, making the video overall very expensive.

Best Visual Effects

Justin Bieber received an award for his single 'Where are You Now', which was awarded 'best visual effects'. This video also makes use of a lot of graphics and overlapping, which is something my group and I are interested in looking into for our music video. Therefore this is definitely a video which we as inspiration when researching into already existing videos. 

Chosen Song

Free The Animal - Sia

As a group, we have decided to go with 'Free The Animal' by Sia. This is solely due to the fact that it has a lot of potential for us to try out different editing techniques with. The beat is also one of the main things that caught our attention. It is fast paced and allows us to edit to the beat. In particular, the song has a range of vocal changes and also has a build up to the chorus, which once again allows us to play around with a range of editing techniques and mise-en-scene.

Lyric Video

I love you so, wanna throw you from the roof
The pressure builds, wanna put my hands through you
I'll squeeze you tight until you take your last breath
Loving you to death, loving you to death

The pressure's rising I won't make it through tonight
This love immortal is an assassin's delight
Just blow me up or run me down or cut my throat
And when it's time for you to die
I'll let you know

Detonate me
Shoot me like a cannon ball
Granulate me
Kill me like an animal
Decapitate me
Hit me like a baseball
Emancipate me
Free the animal, free the animal

I love you so I'm putting you in quicksand
You take your chances when you kiss the hitman
The animal's inside of this infinite jest
Loving you to death, loving you to death

The pressure's rising I won't make it through tonight
This love immortal is an assassin's delight
Just blow me up or run me down or cut my throat
And when it's time for you to die
I'll let you know

Detonate me
Shoot me like a cannon ball
Granulate me
Kill me like an animal
Decapitate me
Hit me like a baseball
Emancipate me
Free the animal, free the animal

Murder me, ruin me
Look what you do to me
Beautiful pain baby
Pour acid rain on me
Kill me with your loving
Kill me with your loving
I'll slice you and dice you
Like sugar and spice

I'll do all that you want me to
I'll beat on the beast in you
I'll kill you with my with my loving
I'll kill you with my loving