Research: Carol Vernallis' theory

Carol Vernallis studied music videos in terms of editing and camerawork. She recognised that editing was more frequent in music videos than in film and often fitted with the rhythm of the song. Here are her main points:

• Editing in traditional fiction on TV follow the rules of continuity which music videos break in order to draw the viewers attention
• Special effects such as wipes and transitions are common in music videos and can be really obvious to observer when used
• The short time limit of the music videos mean that the jump cuts keep the narrative of the video quick and short but still interesting. For that reason, jump cuts are very popular within music videos
• Master shots (base track) are used to give the video structure
• The camera may move in time with the music

An example of a music video that uses special effects is All About Tonight by Pixie Lott which uses mirror and kaleidoscope effects:

An example of a music video that uses jump cuts is Till I'm Gone by Tinie Tempah featuring Wiz Khalifa which cuts from day time to night time:

Research: Andrew Goodwin's theory

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin believes that music videos do not follow traditional narrative structures that you would normally get in television dramas, film, soaps etc. Music videos approach narrative from a different angle than they do in films or novels. This is because:

1. music videos are constructed around songs which often do not follow traditional narrative structures
2. the singer in the music video is both a narrator and a character
3. the singer often looks straight at the camera to make the viewer feel involved

Music videos hinge on repetition since songs repeat the choruses, verses of lines. Repetition in songs or rhythm allow us to recognise the genre and fix the song in our head. Ultimately the music video would be played on the radio, played on TV, advertised on TV ad breaks or poster which would promote the song. Like songs, the videos must have a beginning and an end. The three minute video follows the structure of the song therefore the ending will either consist of a climax or just fade away.

Goodwin states that there are three types of relations between songs and videos:

• Illustration: when the video illustrates the literal meaning or feeling of the lyrics

An example of illustration is in the music video for The Man Who Can't Be Moved by The Script:

• Amplification: where the video exaggerates the meaning in the lyrics without contradicting

An example of amplification is in the music video for Alright by Supergrass: 

• Disjuncture: where the lyrics and the videos have no relation whatsoever

An example of disjuncture is in the music video for Heart Skips a Beat by Olly Murs featuring Rizzle Kicks:

Research - Andrew Goodwin's theory

Andrew Goodwin considers that pop music videos shouldn't use a traditional narrative structure (normality, problem, resolution). He feels that it doesn't really apply to them, that they should approach narrative differently. These are the three reasons why:

• Pop videos are made around songs, which doesn’t set a traditional story line like in films, for example.
• The singer is both the narrator and the character of the music video.
• The singer faces and looks straight towards the camera in order to engage the viewer, as the video is an extension of a live performance.

Repetition is also key in pop videos. The repeated use of images correspond to the way that the chorus, or a certain line, is repeated throughout the song. This allows the audience to be familiar with the genre and to set expectations to the genre.

Although music videos do not use a traditional narrative structure, it does have a form of closure and ending. The end of a song is usually reflected in the structure of the music, as it either builds to a climax or uses constant repetition before fading away.

Andrew Goodwin says that there are three types of relations between songs and their videos:

Illustration - This is when the video illustrates the meaning of the lyrics. Dance is sometimes used to express feelings.

Amplification - The meaning of the lyrics are exaggerated. It doesn't contradict with the lyrics, however it adds layers to the meaning.

Disjuncture - This is when the video doesn't have any connections with the lyrics. Lady Gaga's videos are very good examples, as she mostly uses disjuncture in her videos.

Research - Analysis of a music video

Throughout the video, there is always some kind of movement. Although the camera isn’t moving all the time, the different characters are represented in a way that captures our attention, via their actions but also via the powerful use of costumes and mise en scène. The use of jump cuts throughout the video gives a lot of rhythm to the video.

Two base-tracks were used in this video; in the first one, the artist sings in front a greyish wall. The singer is emphasised by the colour of her costume (which stands ou)t, the use of mise en scène and the lack of movement behind her.

The second base-track is a lot livelier. The mise en scène features the edge of a busy road. Her costume is, again, matching the colour theme of the mise en scène. 


I consider this video to be a great example of the music video form.  It has powerful illustrations and the video is beautifully filmed and edited.

Research: Analysis of a Music Video

I will be analysing Who's Laughing Now by Jessie J:



I have chosen to this video purely because it has no specific target audience. The genre of this song is suitable for both male and female but mainly for those aged 16-25 though however, the school setting of the video allows school children to be amongst the audience. The video is also quite humourous and the main singer is mainly present in the background as a teacher, janitor and dinner lady while the camera primarily focuses on 'mini Jessie'. Other than the points I have mentioned, the video also includes jump cuts, various camera shot and angles. Overall, the video is entertaining and the fact that it is set in a mixed school widens the audience making it suitable for children of the same age. 

Research: Function of a Music Video

In the media first lesson, we as a class dicussed the functions of a music video. Here are the main functions:

• Promotion: Music videos are produced to promote the artist in order for their fans to either buy their album, buy their merchandise or to buy tickets to see them live
• Fanbase: Videos could draw in more fans which would benefit the sales
• Entertain: In order for the public to buy tickets, they must be entertained by the music video. This would also bump up the views for the video, Lady Gaga is a great example of this. Some artists begin their career solely on YouTube views e.g. Justin Beiber
• Views: The more views a music video gains, the higher their status. Outrageous/fantasy videos are more likely to gain more views therefore draw in more fans e.g. Lady Gaga has a huge number of views and fans. Her music videos are not only one of the most viewed but also the most talked about videos due to her outrageuous outfits

However, music videos differ from conventional broadcast narratives from the:

• Quality of footage
• Music track
• Artist performance
• Jump cuts
• Excessive editing
• Basetrack
• Slow motion

Research: Copyright clearance

During the summer, I sent letters to 4 different record labels to ask for copyright permission to the following songs:

• Pixie Lott - All about tonight
• Emeli Sandé - Heaven
• Adele - Set fire to the rain
• Wretch 32 featuring Josh Kumra - Don't go

I am currently still waiting for their reply. Here's one of the copyright letters I sent:

(My address)

(Date)

Ministry of Sound Group Ltd

103 Gaunt Street
London
SE1 6DP

Dear Sir / Madam,

Request for Copyright Permission to use the whole song of: ‘Don't Go’ by the artist ‘Wretch 32’.

I am a student of A Level Media Studies and for my Advanced Portfolio I will be working in a group to produce a promotional package for the release of a new album track. I would like to request permission to use the above track for this project.

The finished project will not be made available publicly and will be used solely for coursework purposes. The holder of the original copyright will be fully acknowledged in the finished project.

If you do not hold the rights for this song, I should be grateful if you could forward this request to the appropriate person, or return it to me with the contact details in order that I might approach the copyright holder directly.

Yours faithfully,

Natalie Tam

(My email)

Planning: Short-list of potential songs

Choosing a song was quite difficult therefore we all decided to try and come up with a song ideas along with meeting up at lunch for workshop to work on it. Firstly, we wrote down several British artists from the top of our heads before researching some unreleased songs from that particular artist, working our way down the list. We still had no luck in a choice for a song so we individually tried to come up with some songs at home. Putting some ideas together, we came up with a list of potential songs:
1. Pixie Lott - Doing Fine (Without You)
2. Pixie Lott - Can't make this over
3. Pixie Lott - The Way the World Works
4. Eliza Doolittle - Rollerblades
5. Eliza Doolittle - Money Box
6. Florence + the Machine - Kiss With a Fist
7. Keane - Clear Skies
8. VV Brown - L.O.V.E
9. VV Brown - Bottles
10. VV Brown - Crazy amazing

Earlier today, we finally came up with a final song choice which we will be making a video for. We've already came up with a few ideas. Our song choice is: VV Brown - Shark in the Water.

New skills learnt in lip sync tutorial

Normally when I watch simple music videos, they look quite easy to produce. I was proven wrong when I and fellow members of our group had to produce a music video to the song: He's the Greatest Dancer by Sister Sledge. As the song was quite upbeat, it required a lot of movement and fast-paced editing. Since the song was by a female group, I had to lip sync along to the song with a group member. Personally, constantly being in front of the camera felt uncomfortable especially when I didn't know the lyrics well due to the short amount of time to learn them. After miming to the song from start to end 4 times, we moved onto editing. This proved to be extremely hard compared with the preliminary thriller work as we had to make sure the video fitted exactly with the song and the editing pace had to match the song. After the long editing process was over, it was converted into Quick Time.

When creating our music video in A2, we must:

• Learn lyrics carefully, preferably by heart
• Plan the filming leaving more time to edit
• Edit must be precise and fit with the pace of the song

Technical skills developed AS year

Before AS media studies, I didn't have any experience of editing of any sort. However, throughout the year I learnt several skills which would immensely benefit my A2 year:

• JVC camera: While using this to film, I learnt several camera shots such as establishing shot, wide shot, medium shot, close up etc. and other useful skills such as panning, tilting, tracking, hand held etc.
• Final Cut Pro: This was hard to understand at first but due to many practices in class, I learnt how to cut, edit, add transitions & special effects efficiently.
• Soundtrack Pro: This allowed us to produce music to accompany our footage or just to add sound effects such as foot steps.
• LiveType: This was used to add text or titles onto our sequence using different fonts & styles.
• Digital camera: This was used to take photos while filming which could then be put onto our blogs or used for a storyboard.
• Handbrake: This was essential for converting our finished video so that it could be uploaded on the internet.

RESEARCH: Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin states that pop music videos differ from traditional videos because:

• music videos are made around songs and not the other way around

• pop videos use singers both as narrators and a character

• the singer looks directly at the camera

He also says that pop videos rely on repetition and have a form of closure and ending which is reflected in the song.
There are three main types of visualization of music videos; disjuncture, illustration and amplification.


Examples of these are:

Nobody's Perfect by Jessie J is a good example for disjuncture because the video doesn't show what is said in the lyrics. It is "random", completely unique and abstract. This is often used in music videos.

Tonight's the Kind of Night by Noah and the Whale is a great example of illustration as it shows exactly what is said in the song. This is rare in music videos, because it only works with certain genres.

If You Ever Comeback by The Script is an example of amplification. The video illustrates the song but with a completely different meaning to what the listener expects.

Research For Music Videos - Music Business Blog

1) The Music Industy has Four Big Record Labels which are as stated above  , the four  are internationally known conglomerates .Below are some digrams I've created which show the some of the smaller companies that the big 4 own

2) The music industry is in financial trouble with the increase of illegal downloads  sales are  down 7%  from From 128.8 million to 119.9 million in the uk .Since the arrival of iTunes people seem to have opted for digital download and being able to purchase individual singles rather than purchase a whole album, which is evident  as the sales of singles are the only thing that seem to be on the increase. The decrease has affected retailers like zavvi whom closed down and hmv who had to close around 60 stores .The decrease in sales has affected the music industry greatly as many small records labels have closed down and the decrease into the “Big Four” music companies is another example.

The decline in sales has lead to many artists resorting to other means to make money . The most popular method seems to be touring & concerts where fans can purchase merchandise which often makes the artist more money in a shorter period of time. Another way for artists to make money is from subscription services such as companies like spoitfy   with nearly 1 million subscribers in the uk .Spotify  charge a monthly fee for subscribers to listen to music and depending on how many plays a certain artists get’s a return.

Another method artists are trying to use to sell records is music videos but this only works sometimes . Music videos server the purpose of promotion which in cases encourages audiences to buy the song. This is the case with OK Go who attracted audiences with their video  here it goes again  they went from a fairly unknown band to being an “overnight success” when their video went viral which boosted the groups records sales for a time  .

Research For Music Videos - Analysis Of A Music Video

The music video i've chosen to analyse is Just Jack - Starz In Their Eyes :

I've chosen this example because it contains a wide variety of media language which makes the video  interesting from the very beginning . The video opens with panning and also  uses various jump cuts throughout  . The video has base tracks when artist is the the corridor . It also uses CGI  such as in the image below when one of the characters explode into fireworks . The editing seems to be intime with the song . The representation of the women in the video all seem to be similar women seeking fame and fortune in not a lot of clothing majority of the women in the video make eye contact with the camera showing that they are ceasing to be passive .

REASEARCH: Analysis of a Music Video

(the actual song starts at 2:54)

I have chosen Lady Gaga's video for "Telephone" because i think it is a good example of a Music Video.
It has many jump cuts and time manipulation which are done to the beat of the song.

It also has a variety of shots (CU, MS, LS etc.) often showing the artists to advertise them.

The (lack of) clothing also attracts males (male gaze) which widens the audience.

It has both, singing scenes as well as dancing and performance which I think is great because it makes you want to watch it simply to see what happens next. Also "to be continued" at the end can make the viewer watch previous or latest videos by the artist, further advertising them.

RESEARCH: Function of a Music Video

The main function of a music video is to advertise the artist and his single or a new album. It does that by showing the artist in front of the camera and maybe even making a connection with the audience. So even when the song is not what someone usually listens to, the music video can attract the viewer to go and buy the song or go to a concert where he might expect a similar "show" as on the TV.

The use of YouTube to show music videos also gives the viewers a chance of going straight to an online shop such as iTunes or Amazon to buy the song from a link under/in the video.

RESEARCH: Copyright Clearence

Overall I have sent three emails; 

One to Armada Music at licensing@armadamusic.com for In and Out of Love by Armin van Buuren from which I recieved an answer saying:

Hi Konrad,I’m ok to approve from our end as long as this is STRICTLY for education purposes only and not in any way distributed publicly.
Not in a physical form but also not via Internet etc.
Good luck with the products!
All the best,
Nadine

One to Ultra Records at info@ultrarecords.com to get a copyright clearance for Raise Your Weapon by deadmaus but I didn't get a response

I have also sent an email to Moshi Moshi Music at www.moshimoshimusic.com/contact/ a record company for Girl With One by Florence + the Machine but I didn't get a reply either.

Research For Music Videos - Review Your Favourite previous Student Video

My favourite  previous student video is

Kirsty Phillips, George Jackson, Chloe Morgan, Michael Lewry from 283goswell on Vimeo.

The genre is soft rock / indie &  intened audience for this video seems to be a young maybe niche audience.The video uses some of carol vernallis's theory in that their is a fair amount of jump cuts and the rules of continuity  editing are broken. The video also has other media language such as repeated shots , slow motion and it's well framed I think Andrew Goodwin's theory would categorise this video under dis juncture .The video also goes against laura mulvey's theory and the one female that is portrayed in the video is seen as equal to the other characters in the video and she is also dressed in what society would consider to be normal fashion and in no way seems to be out satisfy any male gaze.

Research For Music Videos - Laura Mulvey's Idea On Representation

Laura Mulvey’s theory on representation seems to be that there is a sexual imbalance between male and a female which shows just how sexist society is .She believed that men find pleasure in looking at female’s figures fulfilling fantasy’s which often includes women in minimal clothing.

The video’s are directed by a popular American music video direction called hype Williams who’s been directing since 1991 .some of his signature styles appear in the two videos such as placing shots in regular widescreen ratio, while a second shot is split and placed in the upper and lower bars. Which can be seen in the Check up on it . In the Gold differ video hype Williams used his trade mark of having female video models .
Kanye west gold digger :
The video seems to have a disjuncture relation to the song. All the women in the video are in minimal clothing and are represented as “pin ups” in provocative poses whilst all the males in the video are dressed in complete contrast .proving Laura mulvey’s theory on about sexual imbalance correct.




These second video is Beyonce – check on it. The video shows women to a similar manner in the one above. The representation of women as an object seems to still be active in this video as the artist herself( Beyonce) is seen in skimpy clothing throughout this could be seen as her empowering herself and encouraging other women or going back to Laura Mulvey’s theory she could be styled accordingly to fulfil a male’s fantasy .

Research For Music Videos -Carol Vernallis Theory

Carol Vernallis  studied editing and camera work in music videos , she has observed edit's in music videos and these are some of the points that she came up with :

• The usual rules of 'continuity ' editing are broken in order to draw attention to what is on  screen
• Edits may be really obvious to draw attention to themselves such as wipes and special effects added
• jump cuts are often used
• a master shot base track is frequently used to give the video a structure
• The camera may move in time with the music.

A music video that i have seen that illistrates some of carol vernallis's ideas are :
Noah & The Whale - Five Years Time : http://youtu.be/T8YCSJpF4g4
Cant Stop The feeling - franz ferdindad

Kanye west all of the lights

Research For Music Videos - Andrew Goodwin's Theory (Continued)

1)      Example of disjuncture Taio Cruz – dynamite: The video seems to have very little connection to the lyrics “'Cause we gon' rock this club

We gon' go all night
We gon' light it up 
Like it's dynamite!
'Cause I told you once
Now I told you twice
We gon' light it up
Like it's dynamite!” 

The setting of the video is not in a club and there’s no dynamite or explosions anywhere in the video!!! The video seems to conform to one of the feature of pop video’s with the way women are presented in the video in skimpy clothing although some of the women appear to be mechanic’s which challenges the usual masculine gender role for the job 

Example of Illustration:

Ed Sheeran – You Need Me I Dont Need You . The video doesn’t seem to have a set narrative as such but the lyrics are illustrated by the main character performing sign language and  the mise- en - scene . The chorus is illustrated by a flash of the main singer with his guitar or a dance routine. Throughout the song there is a lot of illustration that goes with the lyrics such as:

The Lyrics “I’m Still a choir boy in a Fenchurch tee
 <-

<- This line is repeated twice the first time this images of the news paper comes up and the second the image of the rucksack “I’m Selling Cd’s from my rucksack aiming for the paper”.

Example of amplification: Jessie J – Who’s Laughing know

The video brings a literal meaning to the lyrics it also adds a new meaning with the mini Jessie acting out scenarios’ as well as the actual singer taking roles of the teacher, cleaner etc. The video & narrative also indicates a theme of bullying which add’s a new layer to the song.

Research For Music Videos - Andrew Goodwin's Theory

1)      Main points  :

According to Andrew Goodwin traditional narrative analyses does not apply to pop video’s this is because pop videos approach narrative from a different angle to novel’s and films. The main reasons for this are:

-Pop videos are built around a song & do not have traditional structure

-The singer is used as the narrator & character

-The singer makes direct eye contact with the camera which creates a performance and draws in the viewer at home

 Andrew Goodwin  also states that a major part in making the song familiar is repetition , videos often repeat images for specific verses or choruses ,

 another part of the repetition is that music videos are played on TV , the song will be played on  the radio and maybe even have  a film advert or a TV tie in making the song very familiar .The repetition allows audiences to become familiar with the genre / conventions and develop certain expectations. Another point he makes is that some pop videos are autonomous from the music they come from. The actual visual of a song may go beyond the original meaning which at times is so pleasing to the audience that it encourages repeated viewing.

He then goes on further to state the 3 types of relations between songs and video’s which are:

-Illustration: Where the videos tell the story of the lyrics

-Disjuncture: where there is little connection between the lyrics and the video and often contradicts the lyrics

-Amplification: where the video introduces new meanings that do not contradict with the lyrics

These relations between songs and lyrics also help pop videos to have easily recognisable features, such as some artist’s repetitive features which become trademark in their videos. Another recognisable feature is the way women are presented as objects of male desire. This is most common in heavy metal & Hip Hop some female artists of this genre intentionally present themselves in the same way but by looking directly into the camera and cease to be passive.

Research For Music Videos - The Function Of A Music Video

In our first media lesson of the year we discussed as a class what is the function of a music video
The main idea that kept recurring was that music videos are  basically a way for music company's to promote artists in order to sell more music .music videos also are a way for artists to interact with their audiences and at times to tell a particular  story that their might be behind a particular  song .