Lana Del Rey - National Anthem

This song would come under the pop genre, i think that it mainly caters to teenage girls in perticular.  From first listening to this song we get the idea that it is about love and at first feel that she is expressing her love for this man she is explaining but later in the song we realise that she is explain her love and life with this man who she eventually lost. In the video we see that she is talking about the presidient Abraham Lincoln who was shot in a drive by and killed, she is using this story to recreate it and show the pain of the loved ones around him. She uses pastel colours and colours that would be associated with romance such as red, pink and yellow to represent the love they have for eachother and how there relationship at the begining is calm and peaceful, where as towards the end the colours start to get deeper and more orangy red to represent danger and stress in the relationship and situation. Also the memories that are being shown at the end of the video are slightly faded to connote her loosing him.

When creating my own video i will use the idea of looking back on memories and showing a couple looking happy and using pastel, warm, happy colours to connote the feelings the couple have for eachother. But will then use colour and lighting to later represent how the relationship has gone sour.

When first listening to this song i would expect to see from the video-
- pastel colours
- sunshine
- Low angle shots to connote power as i think that this song gives the impression of their authority.
- classy clothing
- family, friendly atmosphere
- red towards the end to connote danger

 

 This screenshot of the video shows a close up of the artists hand over a mans leg, from this we assume straight away that there is a relationship between them and gives us the idea they are passionate. We know this is the artist as we are shown her wearing the same red dress in the previous scene. This is an example of when capturing a close up shot of an object of signifigance to create more of a narrative. The fact she is wearing red also gives her a secductive persona.

 

This long shot shows the artist now leaning into the man we assume is her husband, whilst looking down proudly at who we assume are her children. This gives us a completely different view of her, showing that she is a family orientated person, in this she is wearing white, this connotes purity which works with this different persona of being innocent and sweet. This long shot is also used to give us an impression of the familys life, we get this idea from the scenery as they live by a lake in a big expensive house, this gives us the impression they are very wealthy.

 

The previous shots show Lana looking positive and happy where as this changes the whole theme of the video as we are shown this close up of her face with a sad facial expression as she slowely looks up towards the camera. As this doesnt tell us anything about what could have made her unhappy we are left assuming and waiting for it to be revealed through the rest of the video. In this scene she wears blue which connotes sadness as blue is the colour of tears.

 



 

This shows the artists wearing an orange coat with an overall colour scheme of red and orange in her hair and clothing, this colouring connotes anger and danger, in this part of the scene we find that her husband has been shot, which then makes sense with the earlier close ups of her looking sad and worried.

 

After looking at this video i have found that using close up shots is a good way to show emotion in the video as you have a clear view of the facial expression of the artist/actor.

 

Nina Nesbitt - No Interest

This is the kind of artist we are thinking about using in our own music video as we like her music ourselves and would suit to our ideas of how we would like our video to be.
This is quite an up-tempo song with a quirky, less serious feel to it, although she is singing about relationships negatively we dont see this as a sad song. Because the song already has a clear story behind it as she basically tells the story through her lyrics it is easy to tell what kind fo video this song would have.
She is shot in the centre of the screen looking isolated from the world and having her surroundings look busy, this works well to suit the target audience being teenagers as it is representing a young girl who has had relationship problems and might feel alone and isolated but doesnt appear upset, she is shown as strong and independant which could relate to members of this target audience.
Many of her surroundings look rundown, messy and low lighting with maybe one light that gives off a warmth to the image, althogh her surroundings are darker her face is lightened up and shot from a high angle to represent her youthfulness and innocence.


Without seeing the video i would expect to see:
- teenagers
- bright colours
- indie styled clothing
- Fast motion editing
- Maybe one person moving at normal speed whilst others around her move fast to give the impression of her being lost/excluded, but not in an emotional way.
- Urban atmosphere

 

After annotating this video i have now realised they have removed the video from youtube so im not sure wether you will be able to see the actual video.

Gabrielle Aplin - panic cord

- I have chosen to look at this music video, which comes under the indie/folk genre, as when creating my own i will use it as inspiration, i like that Gabrielle is shot with a guitar miming the words directly to the audience in parts of the video then the rest of the video basically tells a love story. 
- This video is consistent with her other videos, 'The power of love' and 'Please dont say you love me', in the way that warm, natural lighting is used to create a calm, peaceful atmosphere.
- In this video bright colours are used to give a warm, affectionate feeling to the video, this gives us the impression that the relationship happy and loving. Although saying this we get the idea that when she on on her guitar singing giving direct attention to the viewers that the rest of the video is her looking back on old memories.
- She wears vintage, comfy clothing alike the clothes of the male actor in the video who plays her love interest to give off the idea they are comfortable and live a countryside lifestyle.
- My favorite technique used in this video is when later the camera shots change at the same time as the beat, i feel that this creates a feel of action and really works with the story in the video.

From just listening to the song i would expect to see in the video -
- brightness
- summer
- narrative
- guitar
- model wearing indie fashion
- warm colors
- love story

 

 

From the start of the video we are straight away given an impression of the girl, as she sits on the bed holding her guitar with her back to the audience we get the feeling she is hidding something and being secretive. We cant see her face so it is almost like she is hiding her emotions from the viewer.

We are the presented with a high angle shot of her laying on her bed with a dreary, unhappy look on her face, this type of shot gives us the impression she is innocent and vulnerable and us as the audience have the authority.

We then are shown a quick scene of a boy giving the girl flowers, this staight away suggest a love interest. As we can see from the smile she has on her face we guess that she has feelings of love towards the boy as she is happy to receieve the flowers from him. This contrasts against her mood in the begining of the video where she looks sad and depressed giving us the idea that this is just a flashback of good times that have now sadly come to an end.

 

 

 In this scene Gabrielle is shown playing her guitar whilst singing sitting against the bay window. The ay she is dress in white with her surrounds also based around this colour with the light shining in from the window we as the audience percieve her as an angelic pure figure. If we was to look at the role of 'good and bad' or 'hero and vllian' in music videos she would be seen as good, pure and the audience would usually take a liking to her. Gabrielle singing inthe video allows the audience to understand the lyrics more and associate them with the narrative as they see her emotion as she sings.



 

 

Gabrielle is then shown pulling out, what we gather from the lyrics of the song, a memory box full of memories she has kept from her previous relationship. This gives us more of an idea of how she is feeling, we sense a feeling of loss and heartbreak as she holds onto the last memories she has.

 

Narrative Theories

The five key aspects Andrew Goodwin looks out for in music videos are:

• Thought beats ( seeing the sound)
• Narrative and performance
• The star image
• The relation of visuals to song
• Technical aspects of music video

Thought beats - When you can see the sounds in your head.

you firstly look at the music and take notice of the structure of it, for example where the chorus and verses are. You then listen to the artists voice as this is unique to every voice and gives the artist identification and that helps to create a stars image. Rowland Barthes theory of the Grain of voice relates to this as sees voices as instruments of expression and can make associations of its own. He lastly looks at the artists mode of address as songs can be seen as stories where the artist is the storyteller and we as the listener listens to the story.

 Narrative and performance
Many music videos only give parts of a meaning of the song so they leave the viewers wondering and allows them to complete the story them self. Narrative and performance have work together to make sure that the video can be watched over and over again without the viewer becoming uninterested. The artist being the narrator and participant in the video helps to make it more authentic as well as lip sincing as this helps to make it believable and realistic.

Star image
The stars image also makes a big impact on the music videos, for example, Meta narrative is a story that shows the stars development over time, it plays a big role in the production process.

Relation of Visuals to Song
Goodwin refers to three key phrases 'Illustrate, Amplify and Disjuncture' illustrate is when music videos use images to illustrate the meaning of lyrics and portray the genre which is the most common way to relate the visuals and song. Amplify is similar to repeat ability as the meanings and effects are changed and shown a lot through out the video so that it stays in your mind and vision. Dis junction is when the meaning of the song is completely ignored and not shown in the video. These are he three ways videos work the promote songs.
Technical aspects
This is when the music videos is help together by the use of camera movement, angles, mise en scene editing, sound and special effects.

• Speed, camera movement, editing, cutting and post production are ways the camera is used.
• lighting and color sets the mood and emphasizes the key moments in the songs to give dramatic effect.
• Mise en scene is the setting of the video, is need to look professional and realistic.
• Beats, music videos use cuts to go with the beat or rhythm makes the video more entertaining.  

 When creating our music video we have to ensure the representations of our artists are positive and how the viewers are going to perceive them through our text and imagery. We will think about creating the correct 'star' image of our artist from their styling and general look. We also need to make sure we keep to the conventions of music videos or subvert them within reason to keep to general stereotyping to make it easier for the audience to understand.

Brief

I have decided that the best option for me is to create a promotion package for the release of an album, include a music promo video, as well as a cover for its release as a part of a digipak (CD package) a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD package).

 Conventions of a music video consist of genre  characteristics, visual/lyrics, visuals/music, demand on the part of the record label and inter sexuality. 

A music video is like a short film clip that is either used to tell a story, giving the song a narrative or it can be solely performance based, even can be a mixture of both. This will depend on what fits in with the lyrics and music. Music videos are used to promote a song and the artist/band therefore rising the sales of the product. Also videos can create a reaction from the audience which can lead to what is known as a 'word of mouth' buzz which is a big part of promotion as it spreads the word.

I have decided to work on this with my partner Gemma, i think that because we are close friends and we both have similar skills we will work well together as a team, for example we both take A Level photography and are used to using cameras, also we have a similar taste in music so agree on what we would like to make out of this. We will make sure that we even out the work balance by ensuring that we both put in the same amount of research and planning to make sure we know what is best for us to do, we will decide on people we would like to use in our music video together baring in mind various important factors, and we will also take turns to use a camera to film the video so that both our efforts are put into making i the best we can.