Analysis Of Existing Products: Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding - I Need Your Love - By Charlie

The analysis of this particular existing pop genre product allowed me to further boost my knowledge and understanding of the conventions of pop genre overall. However in particular, this post was espeically useful to me due to the fact that it helped me understand possible shot types to use for when creating my music video product later on during the production and post production stages. It helped reinforce an existing idea I had which was to use a variety of breathable shots, in order to portray a sense of relatability and verisimilitude to the target audience which would also further conform to the conventions of pop genre in terms of partying and having fun in order to provoke a positive emotional response.

Treatment Of Our Dance Track Video - Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix) - By Cameron

Treatment of Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix)

 

Characters Involved:

Lauren: One of the main focuses of the video acting as a party goer who enjoys the night life going to parties and having fun with friends.

Shondelle: Another main focus of the video for similar reasons, she also likes partying and having fun with friends going out whose actions will accompany the dance track music.

Cameron: Also present in some scenes of the music video, but not as much as Shondelle and Lauren. When presented, Cameron is also seen to enjoy the nightlife and party atmosphere where present.

Charlie: Similarly to Cameron, Charlie is only present at selected points of the video; he is also seen however in these very few scenes to also enjoy the nightlife, this will further accompany the audio and dance track feeling to add a sense of euphoria to the audience.

Friends and acquaintances: Acting as extras in our dance track video for added effect, to further provoke a sense of euphoria which the audience will want to aspire to.

 

Genre:

Our chosen music video genre is a dance track genre.

 

Settings:

Brighton Pier/Fun fairs.

Inside a limo.

House parties involving friends and acquaintances.

 

Heads Will Roll:

Our chosen song for our music video to be applied to is the A-Trak remix to Heads Will Roll. This as mentioned briefly above is a dance genre song, and we have chosen this due to the fact that we can reflect a sense of euphoria, and an almost feel good emotion which, when viewed by the audience provokes a sense of higher self-esteem for the audience to aspire to. Our video will begin with a few shots to set the scene as the song starts within the first 15 seconds of the audio playing. This will include a panoramic shot of Brighton mainly focusing on the pier to suggest to the audience that this will be the main focus and body throughout the entirety of the video. It will include cut shots of all the characters walking around as the audio starts up. During this time the song title will appear on the screen for a short period of time. From 15 seconds to 45 seconds into the audio, there will once again be cut shots of the characters shopping, on the beach and partaking in other leisurely activities in Brighton, this will be composed using a number of mid-shots and long-shots. This has the effect of making the audience feel as if they want to be there, and make them wish to aspire to do the things presented in this video, which relates to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in terms of reaching self-actualization. From 45 seconds to 1 minute 12 seconds, shots of parties and other settings will be incorporated gradually becoming more consistent using faster shots for the party as the atmosphere is more electric in these settings. This will be presented through a number of mid-shots and long-shots. Between 1 minute 13 and 1 minute 16, the instrumentals disappear and only dialogue is heard as the song is about to drop into a full scale dance track audio. During this brief period a single shot of the party is prolonged throughout this time and is slowed down using a time stretch editing technique for added effect. There are jump cuts during this same shot at the same time the person singing says "off". Between 1 minute 16 and 1 minute 45 after the audio drops into a faster paced dance audio beat, shots of Brighton pier fun fair, limo shots and party shots are incorporated using a mixture of long-shots, mid-shots, high/low angle shots in time with the beat using a variety of jump cuts. This further adds to the euphoric feel when viewing the video to get the audience to feel as if they have to aspire to do the things conveyed in the video, simply because it looks like allot of fun. Between 1 minute 45 and 2 minutes 14, the footage is slowed down in the form of a long shot, and directly after between 2 minutes 14 to 2 minutes 21, this same footage reverses in time with the audio when it appears to reverse as well. This emphasizes the reversing effect as depicted in the audio. From 2 minutes 21 to 2 minutes 51, the audio resumes back to normal again and various shots of the party are shown again through the use of mid-shots and high/low angle shots in time with the beat, this will include a close up smoking shot for added effect. 2 minutes 51 till the end of the video at 3 minutes 25 the audio resumes back to its full scale fast dance track beat. During this period more shots are once again incorporated in time with the beat, mainly mid-shots and long-shots of the parties, limo and Brighton. The video ends the same time as the audio does at 3 minutes 25 with a two shot close up of Shondelle and Lauren walking up to the camera and blowing a kiss before the camera cuts to black at the same time as the audio ends. The use of the variety of shots to accompany or emphasize the audio links with Andrew Goodwin's theory of amplification in pop videos. This follows the idea that the audio is amplified with the use of a video to accompany it, which in turn has a more euphoric effect on the audience, therefore causing them to want to feel the same happiness presented in the video. This along with the editing effects such as the use of a time stretch effect during some shots further emphasize the euphoric effects conveyed in the video.

Analysis Of Album Cover - By Shondelle

This is the album cover for Rihanna’s latest album ‘unapologetic’.

From a first glance, we can already see that Rihanna is portrayed heavily as a sex icon, giving that she is completely naked, with nothing but words covering her body. This relates to Michael Shore’s theory that music video’s are just ‘an overload of male fantasies’ and even though this is only the album cover, it gives us an idea of what’s to come in the res of the album, and in any of the songs she releases from this album and makes a music video for. Relating to Dyer’s star theory, Rihanna seems somewhat constructed in order to make money, and to ‘sell herself’ in a way. Her record label may have chosen to portray her in such a sexualised way in order to promote her album, make more money and gain more popularity for her (or her record label).

 

The words covering her body, are also covering important parts of her such as her face, however it seems as if she’s looking through the words and straight into your eyes (direct address). The word ‘unapologetic’ falls right over her private areas, as if she is trying to say she isn’t sorry for coming across so sexualised towards the audience, and therefore portrays her to be quite bold and wiling which could appeal to the audience even more, especially a female audience as she seems to be so confident about her body, as she also uses the words ‘happy’ and ‘fearless’  which may make a female audience feel as if they should be as confident as she is.

 

The shot used for this image is a mid shot  which may have been used so that the audience feel equal to Rihanna which could give young girls hope that they could be like her. Cropping and the use of rule of thirds puts her in the centre of the image which creates a focus on her direct gaze to the audience.

The style of writing used is very sketchy, and messy almost, which could portray a laid back ‘I don’t care’ kind of attitude, which could be a sense of what’s within the album, songs to do with having a good and being quite laid back with everything she does.

Rihanna’s short hair cut, dark lipstick and tattoo subverts from the typical feminine stereotype and portrays a more powerful, masculine character, also use of words such as ‘victory’ and ‘fearless’ also give off a more masculine personality. This again relates to dyers star theory as it seems as if she has been constructed in such a way to appeal to the audience, as its different to your typical pretty, frilly, pink, feminine character. This also links to the idea of stars representing a certain ideology, and starting new looks/fashions for the audience to follow, providing them with a focus of ideas of what people are supposed to look like (stardom/star worship).

The industry seem to have constructed Rihanna into something that the younger audiences can always relate to, as since her career started, she may have been getting older, but her image certainly isn’t, because the industry want her to continue to appeal to the younger generation in order for her to continue to serve a purpose, e.g. providing entertainment which results in making more money for the industry.

The step before self-actualisation on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is self-esteem needs, which you gain from being confident, achieving things and having respect form others. In this image alone, it’s as if Rihanna is trying to send a message to her audience, to be confident and/or feel sexy and to not feel bad or be sorry for it, and to have fun and be fearless. All of these words written over her body seem like hidden messages to her audience to make them feel loved, and to make them feel confident about themselves.

Mood Board - By Lauren

 

 

In order to gain a better understanding of what our music video should include to accurately portray the genre; prior to the production I collected a range images that present the idea of house/dance music and current programmes/films focused on youth for example Skins and Project X. We decided we wanted to play upon the idea that is portrayed in the media as a ‘realistic’representation of today’s youth. The idea that many teens indulge in the exotic party life with drugs, sex and alcohol which are issues often highlighted and sometimes glamorised with in British programmes like Skins and Misfits which is aimed at our target audience. The programmes commonly have group of teens aged 16-20 that relish a wild yet thrilling lifestyle, giving the audience a sense of pleasure and escapism as they desire to live like this. In addition to this the connotations of the genre often reflect these ideas as house/dance is predominately aimed at a younger audience.

I selected a variety of images and logos that present the genre,‘party’ images from existing films as well as pictures from holiday destinations such as Magaluf and Ayia Napa which is also youth orientated and recognised for performances by dance/ house music artists every year. From the images gathered we have a focus and more detailed yet varied representation of what we want to include in our own music video.

Analysis Of Existing Products: LMFAO - Champagne Showers - By Cameron

Once again similar to previously, the analysis of this existing pop genre product further strengthened and solidified my knowledge of the typical conventions of pop genre. This further influenced some of my creative ideas during this research and planning stage for when I eventually produce my music video product during the production and post production stages. In particular however, it strengthened my knowledge and understanding of the conventions regarding vibrant colours and use of bright lights lights in pop genre videos, and gave me an idea of how I would use a convention such as this when the time comes to produce my music video product.

Permission To Film - By Shondelle

This is a first example of one of the possible shooting locations which we researched into filming at, due to the fact that it conformed to many of the conventions of pop genre previously researched into. We plan to film at this location at night to conform to the whole nightlife partying scene as it is a typical convention of many existing pop genre videos. Furthermore, the use of the bright lights and the fun fair theme depicting the characters in the music video having fun are further key conventions of pop genre which we though Brighton Pier would conform to successfully. This post shows our progress in attempting to film there as we had to get permission first in order to film there without any problems, showing our commitent to the idea.

Target Audience Research - By Charlie

The results from the target audience research questionaire played a key role during this stage of the research and planning due to the fact it allowed me to gain extensive knowldge of the audiences entertainment needs which needed to be fulfilled. Furthermore, this in collaboration with the previous research into the conventions of pop genre and existing products, allowed me to start to realise how I would go about producing my music video product in a way which would be most applicable to the target audience researched into, via these results from the questionaire.