Literal music videos

A literal music video , is when the lyrics in the video have been changed in order to match the visuals that are taking place throughout the video- the whole idea of it is that it is basically a parody of the original.

A prime example of a good Literal music video- would be one taken from James Blunts song- You're beautiful- which is here:




Then here below is the literal version:



This is a good example of a literal video because it uses the concept perfectly. Whoever has created this version has just gone through the song and chosen adapted lyrics, to literally list everything that goes on through out the video. If you watch the video fully, every line of lyric matches to whatever is happening visually. The person that has created this also in order to make fun of/ mug of the original artists James blunt, not only do the lyrics do this, but the creator has sung it trying to mimic James Blunts voice.

Another good example would be using the song- Total eclipse of the heart- Bonnie Tyler
Here is the original:



Then again here is the literal video-



Again this video is using the exact same concepts, matching the adapted lyrics they have created in order to link with the visuals. As well as, similarly in the James Blunt video making the orignal artists and the video look a fool.

Lip Sync Excercise- Shake it off

The song that we had to lip sync to was- Shake It Off, which is sung by Taylor Swift

Here is the official music video:





What did you do to prepare for the lip sync exercise?

To prepare for this exercise was fairly easy, all we really had to do was figure out what shots we wanted to film in, and how we wanted to exercise the shot as well as learning the lyrics-

I stay out too late

Got nothing in my brain

That's what people say, mmm-mmm

That's what people say, mmm-mmm

I go on too many dates [chuckle]

But I can't make them stay

At least that's what people say, mmm-mmm

That's what people say, mmm-mmm

But I keep cruising

Can't stop, won't stop moving

It's like I got this music

In my mind

Saying, "It's gonna be alright."

'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play

And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate

Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

I shake it off, I shake it off

Heart-breakers gonna break, break, break, break, break

And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake

Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

I shake it off, I shake it off

I never miss a beat

I'm lightning on my feet

And that's what they don't see, mmm-mmm

That's what they don't see, mmm-mmm

I'm dancing on my own (dancing on my own)

I make the moves up as I go (moves up as I go)

And that's what they don't know, mmm-mmm

That's what they don't know, mmm-mmm

But I keep cruising

Can't stop, won't stop grooving

It's like I got this music

In my mind

Saying, "It's gonna be alright."

'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play

And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate

Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

I shake it off, I shake it off

Heart-breakers gonna break, break, break, break, break

And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake

Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

I shake it off, I shake it off

Shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off

Hey, hey, hey

Just think while you've been getting down and out about the liars and the dirty, dirty cheats of the world,

You could've been getting down to this sick beat.

My ex-man brought his new girlfriend

She's like "Oh, my god!" but I'm just gonna shake.

And to the fella over there with the hella good hair

Won't you come on over, baby? We can shake, shake, shake

Yeah ohhh

'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play

And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate (haters gonna hate)

I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

I shake it off, I shake it off

Heart-breakers gonna break, break, break, break, break (mmmm)

And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake (and fake, and fake, and fake)

Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

I shake it off, I shake it off

Shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off

Shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off

Shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off (you've got to),

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off

What did you do in the studio?

In the studio we learnt how to use the different types of cameras that were set up, some of which we had not been introduced to before. Whilst doing this we were also talked through how to use the lighting to our advantage in our videos. Then we checked out the set and decided on the final way to execute our shots, and decided who would be doing what. Through out the whole process we were also learning about the health and safety of the equipment that we were using. The most interesting thing being in the studio was learning how to perform a dolly shot.

What did you learn?

I learnt many things through this process: 

1. I learnt how to do a dolly shot
2. I learnt how to change the lens on a camera that has no zoom
3. I became more comfortable both in front of and behind the camera
4. I also saw what role the floor manager and the director

What did you do in the suite, what steps did you take to cut the video?

Firstly we found all the footage that we had filmed and sorted our rushes out into bins. From here we them matched the videos, with the lip syncing to the actual music/ sound. From here we layered each clip so all parts matched and we could select the parts that we wanted to use a lot more easily and not have to edit it much more. We then decided on the pieces of footage that we wanted to use and from here we then pieced it all together and came up with our final product which came out like this:

What did you learn about editing music videos?

That if you know the process and have the right software it is not as difficult as it may seem. However i found that it was also quite frustrating and could easily be very time consuming as well. Overall i learnt that editing them is fun but it also takes quite a lot of hard work and effort to come out with a good final product

Did you make any mistakes on the day, how could you shoot or cut the video more effectively next time?

I would say that in order for the whole process to have been more effective that I should have prepared more and within our group we should have prepared and we would of had a much clearer idea of what we were actually going to do before we did it. Also I think more time could have been taken with the editing if we had it, in order to maybe put in some effects or something along those lines. Next time i would definitely get more involved with the editing in order to try and develop my skills.

Overall i would say that i really enjoyed the experience and it gave me a more positive outlook on what the A2 course holds.

Wix or Wordpress?

Wix and Wordpress, are both softwares that allow you to create and design your own website however you want to. They are both usable and have guides which show you how and what to do. Templates are also provided so you can get and idea of what some sites would/could look like.

So, we first used Wordpress which was very technical and is quite hard to use in comparison to Wix. There are many ways to edit and change things, for examples you can add widgets to your site, in order to make it more visually interesting. 

In my opinion Wordpress would be a good software to use if i learnt how to use it properly, which would take a few more lessons. But i did enjoy using the software because it was interesting and challenged me

On the other hand there was wix, which i found a lot more easy to use. It was much more simple and had a lot more set options for you to chose. Throughout the process of creating your website you were constantly given guides on how to do things, which made the whole process a lot more easy, but still came out with a very good result.

I felt that Wix gave me a lot more options, and helped me create a better website and i found the process a lot more efficient and enjoyed it more as it wasn't as frustrating. Also my end product looks a lot better than what my Wordpress site looked like. 

The structure of a music video

The videos we will analyse all contain aspects of an narrative


The first video, is:Rudimental - Not Giving In ft. John Newman & Alex Clare

We chose to use this video as we feel that with the use of the lyrics, coinciding with the video, gives a very strong narrative.

The video is basically about two boys living in poverty, and have tough family backgrounds are trying to find ways to get out of them. Both of them start of stealing, for monetary gain, however through the course of the video their paths change. One of the boys uses illegitimate means to feel self worth/ gain financially and turns to crime and joins a gang. Where as the other boy turns to dance and learns how to dance, and from what it seem enters a competition. The result is that the gang boy gets shot and evidently "gives in", but the other boy gets back up from his fall, thus "doesn's give in"
This video is also good as it highlights problems that we do experience in todays society, in places such as where this was filmed- Shanty towns in Manilla- The Phillipines
The lyrics have heavy support with the video:

Well, it's time to start the show,
Lost my heart and lost my soul.
Now it's the time that you won't know,
Lost my mind and lost my goal.

Mm, not giving in.
I'm not giving in,
Not giving in,
Ooh I'm not giving in, yeah.

This time, I'm gonna be stronger I'm not giving in,
This time, I'm gonna be stronger, no, I'm not giving in.

Waste my time which makes things worse,
Lost in mine, my love is cursed.
Mm, time to make these things feel right,
Mmm, let's start this show for one last time.

Oh, I'm not giving in,
(Not giving in)
Not giving in,
(Not giving in)
Let me tell you no, not giving in,
Not this time,
(Not giving in)
Not gonna give it in.

This time, I'm gonna be stronger I'm not giving in,
This time, I'm gonna be stronger, no, I'm not giving in.

Nooo, not giving in.
Not giving in
(This time, I'm gonna be stronger I'm not giving in)
I'm gonna be stronger
(This time, I'm gonna be stronger I'm not giving in)
I'm gonna be stronger

This time, I'm gonna be stronger I'm not giving in,
This time, I'm gonna be stronger I'm not giving in.
This time, I'm gonna be stronger I'm not giving in,
This time, I'm gonna be stronger I'm not giving in.
This time, I'm gonna be stronger I'm not giving in,
This time, I'm gonna be stronger I'm not giving in.
Wooh
This time, I'm gonna be stronger I'm not giving in.
This time, I'm gonna be stronger I'm not giving in.
Not giving in
Not giving in.

Then you can then compare it to-

Sam Smith - Lay Me Down

This video uses the images to amplify the lyrics, and due to this we get a much deeper meaning into what the video actually means.

They've chosen to make a statement and showcase something that the director and artist would passionately believe in. We are shown through the video, Sams dreams, being that one day gay men and lesbian and woman all over the world will be able to be accepted in todays society. The video starts of depressing, with what looks like a funeral in the church, then changes scene to him moving to the back on the church, and all costume changes from black to white and the lighting changes from dark to bright, highlighting a change in mood, turns from a negative scene to one of joy.

The lyrics, support the emotions and feeling throughout the video, and help the audience to pick out the deeper meanings from the images:


Yes, I do, I believe
That one day I will be
Where I was right there
Right next to you

And it's hard
The days just seem so dark
The moon, the stars
Are nothing without you

Your touch, your skin
Where do I begin?
No words can explain
The way I'm missing you

Deny this emptiness
This hole that I'm inside
These tears
They tell their own story

Told me not to cry when you were gone
But the feeling's overwhelming, it's much too strong

Can I lay by your side?
Next to you, you
And make sure you're alright
I'll take care of you
I don't want to be here if I can't be with you tonight

I'm reaching out to you
Can you hear my call?
This hurt that I've been through
I'm missing you, missing you like crazy

[This verse only at album version:]
You told me not to cry when you were gone
But the feeling's overwhelming, it's much too strong

Can I lay by your side?
Next to you, you
And make sure you're alright
I'll take care of you
I don't want to be here if I can't be with you tonight

Lay me down tonight
Lay me by your side
Lay me down tonight
Lay me by your side
Can I lay by your side?
Next to you
You

Then Finally this final video is using disjuncture 

Radioactive- Imagine dragons

I have chosen Radioactive to represent disjuncture.This is because the lyrics are about someone waking up from an apocalypse and how the world has changed from this apocalypse. Therefore you would imagine the narrative of the music video to be somewhere along the lines of someone waking up in a city with scratches and scars on their face and buildings and infrastructure to be destroyed and for their to be images of dying people.This is not what we get though. The narrative of the music video involves toys fighting each other and people gambling over them, the people appear to be enjoying themselves and having a good time even though there is suppose to be an apocalypse

And here are the lyrics:

Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa

I'm waking up to ash and dust
I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust
I'm breathing in the chemicals

I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my system blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive

I raise my flag and dye my clothes
It's a revolution, I suppose
We're painted red to fit right in
Whoa

I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my system blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive

All systems go, the sun hasn't died
Deep in my bones, straight from inside

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my system blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive

Album artwork

Marlowe- Its turning me on- debut EP

• Solo artist
• Red back ground and putting on lipstick, links with album title- sexualising the woman in the album cover
• Easy to see the writing- strong contrast, allows us to see the name of the artists clearly
• No capital letters
• Organic artist
• She is again sexualised through the use of the skirt, she is pulling it up slightly showing a lot of leg
• Red sometimes does signal danger- brings up oppositional meaning.

Marlowe- darksparklecorner- debut album

• Light is focussed on the boy highlighting his surprised/scared expression
• The boy is in a dark corner, however he himself is 'sparkling' maybe relating to the album cover
• Genuine image, no editing, doesn't look staged 
• The colours and contrasts in the photo suggest that it may have been taken somewhere around 2000

Marlowe- A day in July

• Links with first album cover with the use of white text on a red background again
• Very picturesque and gives of a feeling of tranquility
• Contrasts with the previous album cover, as the title cover highlights completely different things
• There is also children in the photo, which links back to the previous  cover, as it also uses a child as well

Marlowe- Deep breathe fake air

• White text again on a red background, contrasting thus is easy to see. But also uses black text which contrasts with other covers
• Cartoon image again suggest organic image

Testcard- lines

• Colour pallet is very bland
• Has now started to use capital letters
• Very abstract image
• Contrasts to all of the other album covers, quite dull compared to the others

Roja- Promises i should of kept

• Spanish/ Mexican image
• Roja means red, so is the text again linking back to the previous albums which use red as well
• 
  

Madonna- Like a prayer

Like a prayer- was taken from the album with the same name

The track was released on March 3rd 1989. It's pop rock which is the genre Madonna predominantly sang throughout her career. The music video was directed by Mary Lambert



Through this video there is an evident narrative, which goes along the lines of, Madonna beng the protagonist, and shows some sort of a journey through/ with christianity.

We see this in many ways

Firstly, in the opening of the video we see a burning cross, this straight away leads us to the crucifixion of jesus. However it could be viewed as anti-religious as the cross is burning, but later in the video we can see she is pro religion.

Secondly, we can see a Church, with a light emerging from it, which could be viewed as it guiding her towards it, which brings in forms of pro religion.

Thirdly, we see her flying through the air, with lyrics referring to dreams. This shot believes us to think about heaven and suggests that's where she may be.

Fourthly, we see a black character, who we are believed to think is Jesus, which presents a non-racist view. However many white christians could take this to be offensive so brings controversy around the video.

Finally, we see an all black gospel choir, again leading back to religion, supporting the view that Madonna is actually in support of religion

All of this evidence links back to a link to the video to religion. However the video gives a purposeful controversial image of religion with all the religious figures in the video being black, the black Jesus would cause much controversy as christianity portrays Jesus as a white male.

Leading on from this there is another side to the video, which shows Madonna as a white female victim getting assaulted by a group of white males. However then a black man comes along and saves her and is portrayed to us as the hero. But then the police arrive and take the black man away assuming he is the criminal, again highlighting or linking in with racism within the video.

The video also shows evidence of Stigmata. Firstly with the crosses which relate back to Jesus and the crucifixion. It also shows her cut hand, again relating to stigmata and the injuries that Jesus incurred. Similarly to this she is also stabbed in the side, as was Jesus with a spear when he was being crucified.

At the end of the video we are showed all the characters, in a form of a stage ending. Which could lead us to believe that the whole thing was just all a performance.

There are also other meaning that we could associate with the burning crosses throughout the video. Not only is the video focussed on religion, but it also relates to racism, and the burning crosses arguably could be related to the KKK.

Finally both the lyrics and the video give of the impression that the whole thing could just be a dream, and everything happening is just her imagination.

This video provides the audience both a provided and oppositional reading, it allows you to interpret it how you want to. The clothing Madonna is wearing is also very revealing so you could argue she is trying to pose as a fashion icon, and is also sexualised throughout the video, which is supported by 'black Jesus' kissing her

and also through out the whole video there are direct links to Roman Catholicism and also arguably eqal rights and supports the negative views on racsim

Contrasting aritsts

Analyzing and album cover

The album cover ill use is Ghost stories by Cold play.

I've chosen this album cover as i think it is one of Coldplay's  best covers and tell us a lot about them as a band. It tells us:

• That they are an organic band, as they place more emphasis in the music than they do in themselves
• The cover also suggests that we could be listening to something quite depressing or sad
• Again which links with the title of the album which is ''ghost stories'', again leading to the notions of something depressing
• The colors in the album cover are quite tranquil and relaxing, linking with traditional music of Coldplay which is slowish rock. 
• Arguably the angel wings suggest something angelic about the album

Negus- Organic or Synthetic

Negus believes that artists can either be synthetic or organic. 

Organic 

This has a naturalistic approach to artists, and is when the success of the artist has originated from the artist and been nurtured by the record company. The artist has been given time to change and go through their career, whilst their image is being benefited by the record company.

Also tends to focus on sales of their albums and making a successful back catalogue

As an example here is Jason Mraz

Synthetic

Synthetic artists have been constructed by the record company, therefore their image, and material are entirely created to suit a particular audience. The artist will be given a short period of time to prove their success before other combinations will be tried out.

Synthetic artists do not focus as much on their music, but on being successful and having a large audience base. They are arguably more fake, so built up to please their audience and would be very different in real life. 

As an example you could take Skrillex

Dyer- star image

Dyer was a British sociologist who focused on cinema. He found that the term 'pop performer' and 'pop star' became interchangeable.

Dyer claimed- ' A star is an image, not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials such as- advertising

Their images should sometimes contain a USP- something that makes them different from other artists. This also provides something for their audience to copy and idolize.

For example- Bonos sunglasses

 
The construction of the star image can be shown in its simplest form through this simple diagram.

Star images are created in order to help the artists to relate to their target audiences. They will have aspects that link closely to their audience. The USP that they have will be in order to direct them towards their target consumers. For example all boy bands are exactly the same and their audience is teenage girls. Their images are pretty much all the same and they look very similar and its hard to make a distinction between them-