Initial ideas PLANNING

So the audience does not have too much to think about and the shot isn’t too busy, my video will have quite a simple loose narrative, also enabling the audience to take into account the fact that it is actually the photos that are moving.

The narrative will include a day in the life of a teenager / young adult, this could involve him getting up at home, getting ready / getting dressed, possibly a morning routine such as washing or eating breakfast, going out for a walk in the day, participating in activities such as going to the park? Maybe a transaction in a shop? Then the main character walking home and going to bed or going back to his house / room.

It will be heavily disjunctured due to the loose narrative we as a group are looking to incorporate, but that has no relation to the lyrics or concept of the song. One technique that a lot of music video directors employ is switching between narrative and performance when there is a change in the music, for example between chorus and verse, but I don’t think that we will do this, we will just stick with the loose narrative and keep it one continuous piece of loose narrative.

The idea that we have for this music video incorporates two artists influence, firstly the work of Mr.Taijin Takeuchi who first came up with the idea of using printed images to recreate movement in inanimate objects, and secondly the work of David Hockney who uses many close up printed images to make up a picture instead of just one zoomed out image. As a way of challenging or developing this convention we are going to include a loose narrative within our images and we will create stop motion within stop motion.
In order to challenge the conventions of the Electro / Pop genre, we must integrate some of the same technical aspects into our video, some of these we can take from another Owl City video called Fireflies such as:

· Sweet playful objects
· Objects that relate to the tempo or beat, for example the lights in ‘fireflies’
· Central focus – close ups of the objects within the video
· Possible subtle links between the lyrics and certain objects
· Perhaps daydream or fantasy world theme due to the genre
· A general happy feel to the video

Another way that we can reinforce the idea of movement within the stop motion is to move the photos in the direction of the action, for example if the character is walking to the right, move the photos to the right as well. This is a concept used in the PEN story and it works brilliantly enhancing the illusion of movement within still images.

In an attempt to get permission to use Owl city's song Hot air balloon, i sent this email to their managment explaining our situation.

From:
gregg stone (gregg-stone13@hotmail.com)
Sent:
16 December 2009 21:33:44
To:
ocmgmt@foundationsmusic.com

Hi Steve and Brian.Just a quick email to ask if we could use Owl city's song Hot air balloon for our A2 media studies coursework in which we are required to create a music video?Me; Gregg and my group, Fletcher and James would really love to put our music video to this song, we won't publicise it or take credit for the song in any way. Full credit will be given to Owl city and Adam Young and the name of the band and title of the song will be at the beginning and end of the video.We are big fans of Owl city and would love to be able to take this opportunity to show our appreciation for Adam's music by using it in our coursework.

yours sincerely

Gregg Stone

Synaesthesia within PLANNING

For my media music video I am going to use the artist Owl City as the music that Owl City creates is very upbeat and is easily linked with the idea of synaesthesia due to this. It creates all sorts of visual images in your head when you listen to it. But the key to the success of my music video is whether I can link the music and the visual aspects of the video in an aesthetically pleasing and enjoyable way. Synaesthesia works by taking into account the way the sound is stacked within a song to create a certain mood or feeling.

The song I am doing is called ‘Hot air balloon’ by Owl City and when you listen to it you immediately feel that it is a happy, feel good song. So clearly to make a successful music video my video needs to have a feel good, warm aspect to it so that it matches the song.
One problem that I do face in my music video is Roland Barthes’ theory of grain of voice, which refers to the idea that the singers voice is unique and an excellent tool in marketing a band or an artist, this means that the majority of music video incorporate shots of the singer ‘singing’, however our concept does not feature a ‘performer’ making this impossible and furthermore it could jeopardize the synaesthesia of my piece. So instead of focusing the synaesthesia around the voice I shall focus it mainly around the instruments and the structure within the song; which are generally very positive and sets a cheerful mood on the viewer. So I shall have to take into account the narrative which is clearly flying in a hot air balloon, the tempo of the song, the instruments used and just the general feel of the song.

One of the aims of my music video is to incorporate the idea of intertextuality, making a better and more repeatable music video as it will refer to the cultural bank of knowledge that we share.

The technical aspects of music video

The most important and main technical aspects of music video are;

· Speed – speed is visualized by camera movement, fast editing (montage) and post production digital effects. All, if done properly and to the right music can help the visuals run smoothly and in parallel with the song.

- Camera movement is often motivated by running, walking or dancing performers. As in most genres the camera will keep the performer in centre frame, however, with genres such as rock, the camera often switches between the band ‘performing’ and the narrative or loose narrative that accompanies the song. Whereas in genres such as dance, pop or electro there is often a choreographed routine that is just as much of a focus as the performer themselves.

- Fast – cutting and montage editing create a visually decentred experience required in creating a successful music video. Sometimes images move so fast that they cannot be understood when viewed for the first time, therefore demanding a second viewing, increasing videos repeatability greatly. This applies to certain genres more than others, for example drum and bass or fast, up-tempo dance music, as the visual images are edited quickly so as to add intensity and possibly a sense of urgency to a song.

- Post production digital effects are a key feature of any music video as again; they greatly increase its repeatability, a crucial aspect determining how successful a music video is. It involves complex editing techniques to produce effects such as split screen images, colorizing and so on. This is often not applied to genres such as indie or rock, as it is to dance music or drum and bass, as these genres of music are seen to be more ‘trippy’ or in some cases ‘psychedelic’ and using post production effect is often a good way to reinforce these notions.

- However do not think that all camera shots and edits must be fast and will only fast cuts will give a desired effect, as some music videos use slow editing and ‘dissolve’ cuts to give a different desired effect. For example ‘Nothing compares 2 U’ by Sinead O’Conner; where slow edits and dissolve cuts are used to set the song and its video away from the generic hustle and bustle of pop music.

· The meat – the meat of most music video is the close-up shot of the singers face as the singer or the voice of the song, is seen as the most important aspect musically, so it is accentuated visually as well. So close ups of the singer help the audience put a face to the voice therefore meaning the audience can associate this face with a bands star image, or vice versa and associate the band with the singer ‘star image’.

· Beats – often a video will be used to emphasize and represent the music in visual terms, this is achieved by cutting the images to the beat or key rhythm. It can also be realized by cutting the images when the structure of the song changes i.e. when the song goes from chorus to verse etc.

· Lighting and colour – can be used effectively to emphasise key points within a song or piece of music, as the image could be turned black and white at a dramatic part in the song or even just different or extra lighting could be employed to create certain effects; hopefully provoking certain emotions. Or simply informing the audience of a change in timescale, for example going from black and white implies moving forwards in time, as demonsrated by the PEN story, shown to the left.

· Mise-en-scene – as with any piece of media production the setting is crucial in creating the feel of a video and the visual qualities it holds, but more often than not it is used purely to guarantee the authenticity or verisimilitude or a piece. This leads to many artists using settings such as a concert hall or a rehearsal room in their video to portray the realness, grit and effort that goes into the ‘star image’ they possess. However increasingly of late, genres such as dance and drum and bass are using CGI which does not focus as closely on the believability of a piece as rock or raps artists do.

Music videos and the three visual relations to songs

There are 3 main ways in which music videos promote songs, these are:
· Illustration
· Amplification
· Disjuncture

· Music videos can be used to illustrate the lyrics or the narrative of a song. It is the most straightforward and simple technique when producing music videos as everything within it is based around the song and the narrative. A good example of this is the song ‘Her Morning Elegance’ by Oren Lavie, at about 31 seconds into the video there is a string part, and this is accompanied by a cello moving in stop motion style for the entirety of the string section, therefore the images are accompanying the sounds within the song.

· Amplification is a technique used to enhance or ‘amplify’ the themes within a song and use the music video to develop them while still retaining that crucial link to the song itself. It is seen as the true mark of an auteur and proves the director to be a creative and imaginative one while still able to maintain a viable concept. A good example of a video that employs amplification would be ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’ by Daft Punk, as the video itself retains a link to the song and its concept, while using animation by manga artist Leiji Matsumoto to amplify the notion.

· Disjuncture is when the video that accompanies a song is in no way related to the music or lyrics of a song in any way. The concept would be completely random and very often featuring abstract imagery, usually a technique employed by arty bands that want to emphasize their originality and apparent lack of need to ‘fit in’. Red Hot Chili Peppers video for ‘Can’t stop’ is a perfect example of a disjuncture video as its inspired by the ‘One minute sculptures by Erwin Wurm’ and that it features many completely random images such as, Anthony Kiedis wearing a tent, Flea playing with stationary and sticking it to his face and John Frusciante playing his guitar in a room filled with lights that synchronize with the rhythm he is playing.

The star image

The star image or ‘meta narrative’ is the development of an artist over time; this includes the stories surrounding this particular artist. The music industry relies very heavily on the star images of a few very popular artists to fund its actions; as in most cases it fails to connect with popular audiences directly. This means that basically the theory of ‘star image’ has a hugely important role to play within the music video production process.

Case study – Michael Jackson

Jackson’s Meta narrative has been a long and event filled one, proving difficult to handle for the star, leading to his downfall and untimely death.

· The first crucial aspect of Michaels Meta narrative is his move from the Jackson 5 to becoming a successful and charismatic solo artist.
· Going on to develop one of the most distinct voices and images in the music industry he went on to forge a hugely successful career.
· Innovative, original and inspirational videos such as ‘Thriller’ and ‘Beat it’ became important tools in creating his path to super stardom.
· In the 90’s Jackson’s star image, took a U-turn and instead of being seen as a talented and unique artist, he was viewed as a disturbing, self indulgent character. This then lead to the start of the constant comparisons between his new ‘weird’ self and his younger, vibrant, happy-go-lucky self.
· However, through it all Michael Jackson has remained a huge media fascination making him still a larger than life, eccentric star.

Meta-narratives of star image are not simply a matter of manipulation, but a dialogue or negotiation of what the music business asserts about their star, and what we accept.

Michael Jackson was for the last years of his career trying to regain credibility and improve his star image but he never quite managed to do it due to the negative connotations that began circling his name, such alleged child abuse. An artists’ video’s can be viewed as the most important way to manage themselves as far as public relations and advertising goes.

Narrative and performance

Music videos and the songs that they are based around, rarely have a complete or full narrative. Both will usually hint at a story or some form of drama unfolding, but will not tell the entirety of the story; again both the video and the song will usually conclude with a striking ending. The main reason music videos steer clear of conventional storytelling or narrative approach is due to advertising and how this links with repeatability; music videos need to be repeatable so that they can be shown and enjoyed in a much more casual way, so this is achieved by using a much more ‘loose’ approach to storytelling.
A frequently used technique within music videos is to cut between the ‘narrative’ and the band performing. In some genres such as R’n’B and dance music there is often choreographed pieces of dance performed by the artist. The singer of the band who is generally regarded as the most important member, often plays the role of narrator and the lead character within this loosely narrated story.

The essential element of any music video still remains the lip syncing and pretending to perform on their instruments, making the audience presume that they actually are performing. This mimed performance is a key convention of rock videos as we know them as many rock videos are built around this ‘performance’.