Mise-en-scene Mood Board:

Below are various shots of the mood board that I created, detailing all of the key mise-en-scene aspects that I have in mind.

Setting and Location: I have a variety of locations for my filming, including a park, a forest and a graveyard in Broxbourne. Though the majority of the video is shot outside, the opening scenes are set in my house in a bedroom, where Beth wakes up in the morning. Though on the mood board I make clear that I only plan on using natural light, I may try and experiment with artificial lighting to see if it gievs the shot a better quality. However, this may not work as I want a morning lighting effect, and that mixed with artificial light may not set the right mood.

Lighting and Colour: As mentioned before, I plan to use majorly natural lighting in order to fit the mood of the indie genre. I plan to use a day that isn't too sunny because the general mood of the video is sombre, but I may want some shots with the sun coming through the branches to capture a nice shot.

Costumes and Props: There is a photograph of Beth below on this particular section of my mood board where she is wearing a coat and is outside with wavy hair. This is the general I want for her character as Ellie Goulding, with minimal makeup but enough to create the crying effect with mascara running down her face. I will use my car at the beginning of the video for when the engine won't start and Beth begins to get distressed. A poppy is a symbol of war imagery and Beth will place one on the grave which is when the audience realise that she has been so distressed due to her partner dying.

Camera Shots and Angles: Beth is supposed to be Ellie Goulding and the typical shots in a music video with a well known individual artist include a variety of close-ups so that the audience can identify the artist and her certain style. There is also a large amount of action shots of Beth running in the video so I will use a mixture of tripod held camera work and handicam to capture the distressing effect and really involve the audience in how the artist is feeling.

Style of my Music Video:

I have considered using some performance in my music video but I don't think that it fits the mood that I am trying to portray. Performance is a typical convention of a music video, and even though Ellie Goulding is slightly involved in the mainstream pop genre as an indie artist, I feel that this video fits her style as it is a bit different from other artists in the genre. The video is telling a story so it is quite important that the narrative aspect of it is strong and explanitory.

 

Ed Sheeran- The A Team

 

Above is an example of a completely narrative based music video in which the singer himself only appears in for a few seconds as a member of the public. This video and my music video will be similar in the way that there is no performance factors in them, but my video will be different in the way that Beth will be playing the part of Ellie Goulding, but she will just be acting out a narrative storyline.

Test Shooting Day:

In order to test out the lighting of scene 1 where Beth wakes up in the morning, I organised a test shoot date to check all the equipment and start to get an idea of the practical side, not just on paper. It went very well but I have decided not to use artificial lighting as it created shadows and did not look natural enough. I tested the use of complete natural light and this turned out to look much more effective. I attempted to make the artificial light work as it would be a good thing to use for the internal shots, but there were always shadows and though the curtains were shut, some blue light was in the room, and mixed with the yellow light didn't look as effective.

Below are some shots of me setting up the equipment; the light and the tripod.

My Cast:

My cast consits of one young girl who is supposed to be Ellie Goulding herself. I will be using my friend Beth Miller who is 17 years old. Ellie is 26 years old but looks fairly young for her age. Beth will therefore be playing older than her age, but this shouldn't be a problem as it is relativley realistic. Bearing in mind that Ellie Goulding's target audience are mostly teenage to young adult females, using Beth will appeal to them as they are more likely to be attracted to watching somebody their roughly of their own age and may even possibly relate to her.

This is Beth

The Storyline of my Music Video:

The plot is quite hard hitting and the audience do not actually know what is happening until the very end of the video. The idea is that my actress (Beth Miller) wakes up and realises that the person who is usually with her is no longer there. We begin to see her become distressed when she tries to get in her car and drive off but it will not turn not. It then cuts to her looking out over a river on a bridge, and hopefully this is the right time for the chorus to kick in and she begins to run. She runs through the forest and there are lots of different angles and shots of her, including her feet running past and handicam. This gives the video a more realistic effect and makes the audience believe that they are there with her. It therefore encourages interaction. The video will then fade to her in a park after she has calmed down a bit. This will be an ellipses. She then begins to walk towards a set of swings. When she is sitting on them swinging lightly, it makes it clearer to viewers that she is definitely missing someone, but they do not yet know why. The final scene is a low angle shot of Beth talking to the camera, but it is a point of view shot so we know that the camera is in the place of something. She crouches down to eye level and the camera cuts to her hand putting a poppy on a grave stone. This shows that the whole time she has been mourning over a lost relative or boyfriend perhaps in the war. To add effect, I will make sure I use a wide variety of shots angles and transitions, and add in some black and white shots where necessary. I will also make full use of the continuity filming that I have learnt to ensure that my music video is of high quality and runs smoothly.

I decided to take out the part with her friend at the end as it may be more effective to end on the grave. I have not includedit in my storyboard however depending on the timing of the song and how it turns out, I may film more later on.

 

STORYBOARD:

Below is the completed storyboard for my music video. I have tried to be as precise as possible and include all of the shots from each scene.

My Blood Lyrics:

                                                                      

That feeling that doesn't go away just did
And I walked a thousand miles to prove it
And I'm caught in the crossfire of my own thoughts
The color of my blood is all I see on the rocks
As you sail from me

Alarms will ring for eternity
The waves will break every chain on me
My bones will bleach
My flesh will flee
So help my lifeless frame to breathe

And God knows I'm not dying but I breathe now
And God knows it's the only way to heal now
With all the blood I lost with you
It drowns the love I thought I knew

The lost dreams are buried in my sleep for him
And this was the ecstacy of a love forgotten
And I'm thrown in the gunfire of empty bullets
And my blood is all I see
As you steal my soul from me

Alarms will ring for eternity
The waves will break every chain on me

And God knows I'm not dying but I breathe now
And God knows it's the only way to heal now
With all the blood I lost with you
It drowns the love I thought I knew

And God knows I'm not dying but I breathe now
And God knows it's the only way to heal now
With all the blood I lost with you
It drowns the love I thought I knew

And God knows I'm not dying but I breathe now
And God knows it's the only way to heal now
With all the blood I lost with you
It drowns the love I thought I knew

Treatment Sheet:

Proposed Title/Song: Ellie Goulding, My Blood.

Synopsis of song lyrics: The song can be interpreted in different ways, but it seems to have some form of a romantic element in it, but is also quite sad. It could also be interpreted as uplifting which works well for my video because it goes from being very sad with Beth crying in distress, to being hopeful at the end with the comfort of her best friend who helps her get over it.

Proposed storyline and characters: The storyline is detailed and strong, with a plot for the audience to unravel as they go along. The plan is to use flashbacks and aspects such as empty seats and Beth looking at pictures to hint to viewers that she is missing somebody. This is substantiated as she becomes hysterical and runs off crying, in an obvious grieving process. She has some time to reflect and then the story will be finally explained when she arrives at a graveyard and puts a poppy on a grave, indicating that it is somebody she loves who has died in war, most probably a boyfriend. However there will be no definite indication of who it is or what exactly happened, because the video will not be long enough to explain this, and it seems to be more effective using ellipsis's to skip time and follow Beth to see how she moves on, with the help of her best friend, the other character played by Natalie Jenkins.

Setting: My music video is set in modern times in the small town of Broxbourne, North London. The locations are common, including a house, a car, streets, a forest, a park and a garden, showing that Beth is a normal girl in a normal everyday situation, but has been deeply effected by the death of a loved one.

Length: There will be no introductory or ending narrative, as anything acted or said without music will ruin the plot and unravel it too quickly. Therefore the song will last approximatley 3:44 minutes.

Format: Digital and edited on Final Cut ProX.

Style-
Genre, mood etc: The genre is indie folk but boardering into mainstream catergory as Ellie Goulding appeals to mostly female teenagers who are also interested in pop music. The mood, unlike most other videos in a mainstream genre, will be relativley hard hitting and emotional. However, introducting Natalie at the end as a comforting friend gives a type of message to the audience of how important friendship is, so in effect, the mood lightens up as we see Beth and Natalie laughing and having fun, which is a direct contrast to Beth's emotions in the first part of the song.

Camerawork/type shots: There is a huge range of shots to be included in my music video, including long shots of Beth to show her appearence, and closeups of her when she is crying or laughing to really emphasise her feelings and the contrast between the two. This will make the audience feel part of the scene as they see her emotions up close. On my storyboard, there is one very high angled shot which I will film from sitting on a tree branch. This is when Beth has just been running through the forest and falls into a tree and viewers see that she is crying hysterically. She will slump to the ground and the high angled shot puts extra emphasis on how defeated she feels. The majority of shots will be steadycam, filmed on a tripod, but to stress how much distress Beth is in, I plan some shots to be filmed using handicam, as she is running through the forest, with again makes viewers feel included in the experience, giving it a sense of interactivity.

Length of shots/editing: There will hopefully be a mix of straight cuts and cross dissolves, and a lot of these dissolves will give the element of time passing, so the story can move on effectively. The takes will be very quick when Beth is running, and as she begins to run I will time it so that the chorus kicks in which will give a good effect and make the music match up with the visuals. In some of the slower parts of the song when Beth has time to reflect there will be longer takes as she walks, instead of runs.

Movement and action: As mentioned before Beth will be seen running in the video, but walking slowly and reflecting a lot afterwards, until she finally acts normally while sharing some laughs with her friend, to show the degrees of her grieving process.

Visual qualities: The video will be shot in colour and I plan to edit the first and middle sections where Beth is obviously in distress to make the colour duller, in order to depict her emotions. Any flashbacks or scenes from the past will be edited to be either black and white or sepia to make it obvious that it was in the past. The end section of the video will be in normal colour to symbolise Beth getting over it and becoming happier. Beth will have a variety of outfits, as the video is set to take place over a week or so, so time is passing. Her clothing will be slightly indie but still normal enough so it isn't too out there. Natalie will be in everyday casual clothing. Props are vital to my video, especially the poppy that Beth will place on the grave, as viewers will immediatley think of war imagery. Beth may open a letter and look at a photograph of her boyfriend in his military uniform which adds to the effect of the war imagery and the indication that Beth is missing somebody, before the audience come to find out that they have passed away.

Handling of narrative: The narrative is fairly linear but will include some montage editing towards the end to show all of the fun things that Beth and Natalie are doing. The audience will be are unsure as to what has happened to the person Beth is missing until the grave is shown, which will keep them interested. A repeatability factor is involved through a potential positive ending, which will appeal to the target audience.

Target Audience: The target audience are female teenagers and young adults, aged about 15-25. Ellie Goulding has the style to appeal to young girls but some of her songs are a bit less mainstream and more sombre than what this audience are used to, with My Blood being a prime example. My music video idea seems to be more complex and much more narrative based than other videos in the pop genre, so the target audience are those who like to follow along to a story line that is more hard hitting than others.  

Technical aspects/Equipment: The equipment in shooting my music video will involve a panasonic camera, a tripod and some artifical lights. I will attempt to use this type of lighting for the first scene with Beth where she wakes up, but the lights may create too much of a shadow and made it look like night time, so I may have to stick with natural lighting. I will however use the lights for the closeup of Beth crying to add a more serious effect.

Production methods: I will act as a director, to ensure that the finished product is what I imagined. Lighting is main focus, as most of the shots take place outside so I have to work with whatever the weather is like.The main aspect that I will focus on in producing the music video is the body language and facial expressions of the characters, as they are key to portraying the correct emotions to fit the storyline.

Locations/Studio: As said before, the majority of locations are outside in the local area and in recognisable places. I will simply use a plain white wall for closeups of Beth crying, as it gives a nice shadow effect from the artificial lighting.

People: Beth Miller as main character and Natalie Jenkins as best friend. There are no other actors in the music video but potentially a photograph of a boy in militarty uniform to act as Beth's late boyfriend.

Time: Over a couple of weekends due to it being dark outside on school nights, where I am unable to shoot. It may be the case that I shoot the video then decide to go back and film more to add in, depending on the audience feedback that I will recieve from my drafts.

Budget: There is no cost involved in shooting my music video.

Rationale: The video will show a different side to Ellie Goulding as Beth is playing her in it, meaning that she is acting out a hard hitting story line in her own music video. It has the repeatability factor to her teenage/young adult audience as the positive aspect at the end will leave it on a good note and stresses the importance of friendship, which is applicable to the lives of every viewer. It shows that even though such a terrible thing can happen to somebody, which effects them deeply, they are never alone and will somehow get over it with the help and comfort of their friends. The underlying message is positive, even if it is portrayed in a negative way at first.

About Ellie Goulding and Polygon Records:

Birth Name: Elena Jane Goulding

Height: 5' 7" (1.70 m)

Trivia: English singer/songwriter.

Personal Quotes: [on the slow rise to popularity of her song 'Lights'] I wonder if that's the case with a lot of my songs. I feel like I write songs for the future or something. Not in an arrogant way, but I feel like maybe my songs were, like, before their time or something.

Ellie Goulding on her fashion style:

 

Polygon Records was one of the first British independent record labels.
It was started in 1949 as the Polygon Record Company Ltd. by Alan A. Freeman and Leslie Clark, who was anxious to control distribution of his daughter Petula Clark's recordings. (Those associated with it fondly referred to the company as "Dead Parrot Records.") The two set up offices on Grosvenor Place in the Sloane Square section of London, and arranged Clark's first recording session with Ron Goodwin and his orchestra and a vocal backing group called The Stargazers. Since Polygon's UK distribution had not yet been set up, the first 78rpm single - "You Go to My Head" backed with "Out of a Clear Blue Sky" - was released in Australia, followed by a cover of Teresa Brewer's "Music! Music! Music!" backed with "Blossoms on the Bough", both on the Esquire label.
In fact, the first Polygon release in the UK was not by Clark but by Louis Prima and his orchestra. Clark's first official Polygon release was "You Are My True Love" (b/w "You're the Sweetest in the Land") in 1950. In all, she recorded more than fifty songs for the label, including a few duets with its other major artist, Jimmy Young.
Near the end of 1955, Polygon was sold to Nixa Records, then part of Pye Records, which lead to the establishment of Pye Nixa Records. Nixa utilized a selection of Clark's Polygon tapes to release her first LP album, Petula Clark Sings.
Clark's complete Polygon catalogue is available on CD - The Polygon Years, Volume One (1950–1952) and The Polygon Years, Volume Two (1952-1955).

Possible Song Choices:

After researching Ellie Goulding's songs, I found two which I really liked and really suited the style for my music video. One is called Dead in the Water and the other is My Blood. Both of them are from her most recent album Halcyon and neither have official music videos.

Dead in the Water:

 

 

My Blood

 

After listening to both carefully and studying the lyrics and rhythm, I have decided to use My Blood as my chosen song for my music video. The reason for this is because Dead in the Water is too slow and even in the chorus the beat doesn't speed up. I found My Blood much more entertaining to listen to which means that the target audience will. I also feel I can do much more with this song in terms of the music video because it feels as if more is happening and I can vary the editing according to the speed of the rhythm in different parts of the song. 

 

Picking an Artist:

After researching a variety of genres, I have decided to pick Ellie Goulding as my chosen artist. Originally, my ideas were centered around pop such as Jessie J, Rita Ora and maybe even Taylor Swift. However, I felt that this was too mainstream for me, so I am focusing on the indie and electro pop genre, as it is a bit different. Ellie Goulding doesn't have an exact genre as her songs vary, but her style is very indie.

 She is with 4 record labels, who are all included in the Universal Music Group:

• Polydor Records      
• Cherrytree Records
• Interscope Records
• Neon Gold

http://www.polydor.co.uk/

http://www.cherrytreerecords.com/main

http://www.interscope.com/#!/interscope

http://neongoldrecords.com/

A Study of YouTube as a Platform for Promoting Musical Artisits:

"A few years ago new musicians promoted themselves via 'MySpace' but now it is redundant. YouTube is the prime platform for musical artists to promote themselves and the success of 'Gangham Style' proves this." Agree or Disagree?

Due to the recent failure of MySpace, up and coming artists had to find a new way to establish themselves at get noticed by the population of web users. YouTube has always been popular for new artists but much more so recently, where more and more are becoming noticed and made famous simply by uploading their own material and getting enough views. I do agree that YouTube is the prime platform for musical artists to promote themselves due to artists such as Justin Bieber who has rocketed to fame over the past few years. A girl called Madison Beer has also recently been discovered by the same man to discovered Justin Bieber, Scooter Braun, who tweeted her which caused a lot of excitement surrounding Madison, who could potentially be made a star if they decide to act on it. Below is a link to her YouTube account where she regularly posts videos of herself performing covers of popular songs. Gangham Style supports the argument that YouTube is the prime platform for musical artists because it is possibly the most famous YouTube video at the moment and has made it onto MTV and other hit music channels. Others may argue however, that it is still the record labels and the production of music videos that promote the artist, because even though they can get noticed on YouTube, it is in fact the record label who signs them, funds the production of high budget music videos to establish them in the music industry, thus launching their careers. I agree that this is completley valid, but even the biggest named artists eventually use YouTube as a way to directly access their target audience and further spread awareness of new songs and representation of their image. People spend on average 2.3 hours per day online as opposed to the 1.6 hours per day that they spend watching television, showing the impact that uploading a YouTube video of an artisit can have on their success, instead of using TV music channels for instance.

http://www.youtube.com/user/MadisonBeerMusic

The Origin of the Music Video and its Contemporary Purpose

"How did the music video originate and what is its contemporary purpose?"

Many people argue that the music video first came about in 1975 with the release of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, as it was the first successful music video to ever be aired on MTV. However others say that the concept of them music video originated years before in the 1920's when artists would perform with a projection of a video that links to the theme of their song. At this time however, the record labels and production companies obviously didn't have the advanced technology we do today to create almost a blockbuster video such as T.G.I.F by Katy Perry of As Long As You Love Me by Justin Bieber. They also didn't have the concepts and elements that we use in our modern day music videos, because at the time they would have just been experiementing with them and use it as a bonus to the artists performance, whereas today it is used to promote and even establish artists. In contemporary music videos, the artisits, especially the females are much more sexualised due to the culture evoloving and allowing this to happen.The equipment and technology has obviously developed throughout the years, as the ideas that are added into different genres of music videos have evolved and will continue to in the future.

Media Language used by Contrasting Musical Genres

"Take two contrasting musical genres to study and explain how they use media language to appeal to their target audiences through music videos"

The two genres that I will be discussing is rock and mainstream pop, because they are almost complete opposites and use media language to appeal to their target audiences in very different ways, because their audiences are interested in different styles of music. The rock genre gives a more sinister and rebellious tone in all their videos for example, because they are representing majorly an older audience who's tastes come under a very niche market.Take Mr. Brightside by The Killers for example, it is not an extreme example of a typical rock video because it is slightly mainstream but it still has the concepts of a traditional rock video- a dark underlying message, outrageous costumes and it is highly performance based. Unlike pop, the videos do not focus solely on emphasising the artists or bands image through key elements, but are more focused on the performance side to a certain extent. Therefore it could be argued that pop artists show more signs of narcissism in their videos because the record label sells through their image as well as their music. These artists such as Justin Bieber will therefore be more hyper-conscious than typical rock artists who have a more care free attitude when it comes to their image. Arguably, it seems that both the rock and the mainstream pop genre both make use of intertextaul references in order to grasp their target audiences' attention and keep them interested. However, pop culture does tend to include more pastiche material in their music videos, because they are much more focused on the visuals than the rock genre. This is mainly due to audience demand as mainstream pop appeals to the younger teenage generation, who don't just look for good music, but the whole package. Lady Gaga for instance has a very particular sense of style and wears costumes that create visual parody's in order to always keep an interest amongst her fans.

Conclusion of Development of Music Videos- Comparison

To conclude, I will compare the styles and elements of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' from 1981 to 'Wide Awake' from 2012.



 

 

Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody music video is classed by many as the first official music video because it was the first successful one to be aired on MTV. It is therefore relatively basic because they didn't have the sufficient technology in that is needed nowadays to produce a successful music video. The video shows the 4 band members performing throughout the whole duration, because narrative based elements is more of a contemporary idea. Freddy Mercury is focused on a lot, being the main singer, and very simple effects are used, such as fading into different images. It is a very dark video with a depressing tone, with their 'floating' heads being lit with a spotlight and them performing on stage in some parts. In contrast to this, in Wide Awake the themes and images are very bright and colourful, with a pastiche to a fairytale reference with the prince charming and 'princess' style of it. The inter textual references in this to particular fairy tales and Katy Perry's other songs such as  'California Girls' and 'Teenage Dream' are more of a modern idea also, because it is a more evolved strategy that can capture the audiences attention more. When Bohemian Rhapsody was being produced, they were in an era of experimentation when it came to music videos because they were a relatively new concept. Therefore, they were completely focused on the video itself, instead of underlying references and methods to spark interest amongst the target audience. The effects are understandably much more advanced in Wide Awake, and though it is similar to Bohemian Rhapsody in the way that there is a slightly sinister feel to it at the beginning, it is a mix of performance and narrative. Unlike Queen's music video, Katy Perry is acting out a story with a solid theme, and uses a little girl and a man as extras to help the story line. Therefore, the main difference between these music videos of two different time periods is not only the technical aspects, but the idea of creating a mini story within it, instead of it being completely based on the performance of the song. This is how the music video has developed over time and is likely to continue to develop in the future.

Flow Diagram: The Development of the Music Video

Below is a flow diagram detailing the development of styles in music videos, starting in the 1920's until modern day videos.

The 1920’s were really the years when music video ideas came into practise, when  performers would project images onto a screen during their live performances which would link to the themes of the song, much like modern music videos.

Throughout the 1930’s and the years following, music videos were mainly these simple screen projections and perhaps short clips of the performers singing. This is because they didn’t have the necessary technology like we have today. The music video was a relatively new concept.

Artists and bands started to experiment with promotional videos but these were more of an art style.

Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan in 1965 is still considered by many to be the first music video. This is a subject of debate however.  

In 1965 The Beatles made  a music video for ‘Ticket To Ride’ which was both performance and narrative based. This is when video producers started to consider the different elements they could include, instead of just the basics. The music video therefore evolved at this point in time.

At the end of the 1960’s and start of the 1970’s, the music industry was developing further through the graduation of film makers frim art schools. Producers and performers then started to experiment further with the music videos.

In the year 1975, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen is thought also to be the first real music video because it was the first popular one to be aired on MTV. This sparked the rapid increase of the change in styles and originality of following music videos. 

Britney Spears sawed to popularity with ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ in 1999, in which she incorporated dance routines and costume changes, as well as performance and narrative, and main theme of being at school. This is how most celebrities promoted themselves and made their fame, through memorable traits in their videos. 

MC Hammers ‘U Can’t Touch This’ music video was launched in 2005 and is completely based on dance routines. This shows how over the period of over 80 years, music videos have established different elements depending on the song an artist.

The famous ‘Crazy Frog’, also in 2005 is another example of how these modern videos can differ, with this being an animation of a frog and the artist being shown as the frog. Contemporary music videos have been and will continue to develop into original ideas in order to capture the appeal of target audiences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Textual Analysis: Still from a Music Video

I will be taking a still shot from One Direction's music video 'Live While We're Young' to analyse in order to show how the appearance of a shot from a particular video can impact its appeal to the target audience and represent/promote the artist or band.

One Direction- Live While We're Young

One direction are obviously extremely popular with young teenage girls who are their target audience and it seems that their record label, Syco have used this to their advantage when filming the boy bands most recent music video for Live While We're Young. Just in this single shot, we see all 5 band members doing a dance which is very light hearted and humorous. It represents them as acting youthful and fun. The triviality is also presented in the title of the song, because the video directly links to it as they are simply having fun, being young. The fact that the genre of the song is mainstream pop links to the message they are portraying to the target audience.The medium-long shot enables the audience to see the artists as the central focus, but also the extras in the background who are joining in with the dance routine. They all look like they're having a good time through their facial expressions. This shows how One Direction are happy to interact with fans for instance. The shot is also high angled soit shows that the band are the main stars of the video. This however also gives the opportunity to show off their wardrobe, which is fairly casual, typical to boy band styles. The fact that some members of the band and the extras are wearing shorts indicated that it is the summer season, adding to the effect of a party style. The lighting shows that it's night time, giving it a party-like atmosphere. There are coloured lights reflecting off the trees which again just gives the shot more of a sense of fun and youthfulness.

Final Comparisons of 3 different Music Videos:

After analysing the content of As Long As You Love Me, Fifteen and Mr. Brightside, I will now discuss the comparisons and contrasts of each one. It is clear that As Long As You Love Me is a hit music video because of Justin Bieber being the artist behind it. Due to his massive fan base, his record label, Island Records having a healthy flow of revenue coming in so can therefore afford to spend a substantial amount of money on his music video by making it nearly 6 minutes long by adding acting scenes which give it a film style. There is a fair bit of performance in the video, which shows off Justin's talent with his dance moves, selling himself further to his audience. This is similar to Taylor Swift as she is known in the industry for her guitar playing in performance. A large section of her Fifteen music video is her in a performance style, singing and playing the guitar. This, just like Justin Bieber is a personal trait that adds to their image which is incorporated in the majority of their music videos. He also plays the guitar in some music videos, which makes the styles more similar. Because Justin and Taylor are both teenage artists, they appeal to roughly the same audience, which is young people, mainly females. In contrast to this, The Killers music video for Mr. Brightside appeals to a much more mature target market. which is shown through the music video. It is a lot more performance based and has darker imagery and a more sinister. This therefore differentiates this particular music video from the other two, mainly due to the market they are targeting. There are inter-textual references shown in As Long As You Love Me because it has a Romeo and Juliet styled theme, which is very recognisable amongst the target audience. The style of Mr.Brightside is quite renaissance themed so is a pastiche due to the clear links through the visuals, e.g. costumes and makeup. It is fair to say that all three videos show a sense of hyper-consciousness, but in particular Taylor Swift in Fifteen, because she is singing about the struggles of being a teenage girl, and the awareness of her image comes through in this.

A2: TEXTUAL ANALYSIS- 3 MUSIC VIDEOS

Mr Brightside - The Killers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGdGFtwCNBE

The Killers are targetting a completley different audience compared to Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift because as their video for Mr Brightside is much more syled to fit the interests of older people. The genre is Rock and it appears that the majority of people that Rock music appeals to is older people, unlike the teenageers who are interested in Justin Bieber's pop songs and Taylor Swift's mainstream spin on country. This particular video is majorly performanced based with some narrative and dance numbers. In contrast to music videos targetted at youngeer people, the performance style is more age appropriate for the audience, aswell as the style of the video as a whole and aspects such as wardrobe, hair and makeup. The theme of it seems to be a renaissance style with big hair and a lot of makeup for the girls. The killers are all dressed unusally, especially the main singeer as he is wearing eyeliner and dark clothes, making the tone more sinsister. The dancing that some of the females do, and then the main girl and a male also emphasises the difference of this music video to the ones I have previously analysed. The music is also of a very Rock genre with the backing track and the singers voices influencing the style. The music is also relativley fast paced, but speeds up further and becomes louder in the chorus, which is not uncommon for all types of songs.

A2: TEXTUAL ANALYSIS- 3 MUSIC VIDEOS

Fifteen- Taylor Swift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb-K2tXWK4w

Over the years, Taylor Swift has built up an image, much like Justin Bieber, which helps to sell her songs and videos to her target audience, due to her reputation as a young, innocent girl who writes songs about her own personal experiences with romance. Arguably, she does have more of a unique selling point than Justin Bieber and other solo artists of that age, because when you think of a Taylor Swift song you automatically think 'lighthearted' and 'romance'. This is why her video for Fifteen is very typical of her, and much like the style of her other videos. She plays a guitar in many of her videos which links to the genre of her songs- very country. She is very natural in the way she dresses and looks very young, which appeals to her target audience that are young teenage girls. The audience can relate to her videos in particular because she sings about very common things that happen in the lives of teenage girls, and this video in particular is effective. It is a mix between performance and narrative, with Taylor walking in through the door to a new school at the beginning of the video, and the lyrics are directly related to the story line because she is expressing how nervous she feels. There are a lot of close ups of her singing in the performance sections because she is selling her image partly on herself, similar to Justin Bieber. It again emphasises her youth and trivialises the video, because at times it hits some serious topics that need to be made more lighthearted. The pace of the song is relatively slow, which isn't uncommon for Taylor Swift, but some may say that it's perhaps more of a deep song and video than some of her others, because it really focuses on the life of teenage girls like herself, through the use of extras, props, hair, wardrobe, and even backdrops and colour schemes. The video makes it seem like almost a dream world she is in because it has illusions that blur into each other and pastel colours and tones that take it away from a realistic vibe. It basically sums up the journey that most teenage girls go through around that age, but puts a positive spin on it by giving the impression that Taylor Swift is giving her fans advice through her lyrics.

A2: TEXTUAL ANALYSIS- 3 MUSIC VIDEOS

As Long As You Love Me- Justin Bieber ft. Big Sean:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4em3LKQCAQ

Due to Justin Biebers rising population and massive fan base, his record label can afford to make his music videos into almost mini films with some acting at the start of the video. It is in the style of Romeo and Juliet so this is an indication that it is clearly going to be a love song. The Genre of the video is pop and very mainstream.The style of it is a mixture between performance and narrative but narrative is a big part of it so that the audience can follow the story line. Justin Bieber's fan base are mostly teenage girls so a love song with the idea of a parent not wanting it may relate to them. Justin's unique selling point is basically himself because he is so popular. However as he is growing up in the music industry he is starting to incorporate dance moves into his videos; slightly Micheal Jackson styled. This helps to further his young image to the audience who look for these traits in his music videos. Having already identified the target audience, we notice that the montage style of the video suits the fan base because they don't like long winded videos with not much happening; they enjoy a lot of action and the music video is an effective example of the syle they like. The Music is typical Justin Bieber, but perhaps much more slow than his other songs. However the style remains the same, as most of his songs are about a girl or has some sort of element of romance in them. The music is slow paced towards the start of the video but then it speeds up during the chorus and Big Seans rap. The video matches this by turning violent when the music speeds up and gets louder. This creates excitement and gives the video some form of climax. The video is obviously big budget due to it being over 5 minutes, having an acting section at the start, all the effects and just the general quality of it. The wardbrobe of Justin and the extras is casual but the makeup that makes him look as if he's been beaten up is effective and obviously of good quality.

Music Websites

Below are a few links to some useful music websites that I will be referring to throughout the duration of my coursework tasks:

NME- http://www.nme.com/radio

TUNE IN- http://tunein.com/

SPOTIFY- http://www.spotify.com/uk/desktop-splash/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=start

A2: I'M BACK!

Hello! I'm back for A2! This term I will be looking forward to chosing an artist or band and creating my own music video using my own ideas and cast. It will require a substantial amount of research and planning which I will highlight in my action plan :)  To start this years research I will be analysing the content of 3 music videos of all different genres which will enable be to identify the key contrasts and help me to chose an artist for my own music video.

The Three music videos are:

• As Long as You Love Me by Justin Bieber (Pop)
• Fifteen by Taylor Swift (Country)
• Mr Brightside by the Killers (Rock)