Research: Music Video Theory: Andrew Goodwin

Theory of Music Videos

A theorist Andrew Goodwin pointed out that for a video t become a music video, it must follow most of these points and functions:

1) Visuals and lyrics have a relationship, visuals and lyrics must illustrate, amplifies or contradicts. It means that the video itself and the lyrics that the artist is singing must have a relationship with each other in terms of ideal and the main point of the song.

2) Visuals and music share a relationship, they either illustrate, amplify or contradict. Similar to the first point, the video and music must have a certain relationship. It could be controlled by the artist e.g; movements of the artist follow the beat of the music. The artist must show "control" and "dominance" over the music video itself. 

3) Genres are complex and diverse in terms of musical video style and iconography.  Basically, the genre of the music video has its own stereotype which gives the audience the ability to identify what kind of genre the artist is trying to use. For example; pop music must have choreography, guys dancing, love scenes etc and rap music must have a "struggle" plot of the storyline in some or scenes of partying, alcohol, drugs and girls twerking.

4) Record companies will demand close-ups of artist or vocalists;  If an artist is lip-syncing in the music video, then there will be close up shots of the artist and the camera will always focus on the singer. However, if it is a boyband, then there will be equal camera focusing on all members. But eventually, there will be close-ups of the single member that stands out the most. A given example would be One Direction; at the end of the song "What makes you beautiful", the camera does a close-up shot on Harry Styles. They do this to let fans know that he is the most good looking member of the boyband.

5) Voyeurism is present in music videos; especially viewing in women, and in terms of system of looking;  There will be close ups to sexual parts of women or "explicit love scenes" that will "turn on" the viewers, attracting a larger audience. If the artist is a women, some of the time, they are told to "seduce" the viewers with dance moves, camera action etc. 

6) Music videos contain intertextual references to TV shows, film and other music videos;  Music videos most of the time contain references to other forms of media. What can also be common is the artist addressing names of media icons and stars. Music Videos are also made sometimes to be under the soundtrack of movies. 

Example 1: Fancy: Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX




1) Point 1: The lyrics that Iggy sings match the whole context of the song which talks about a person being 'Fancy' or 'posh'. An example of her lyrics that point out the obvious would be: "I'm so fancy, you already know". 

2) Point 2: Iggy Azalea controls the song, she steps according to the rhythm and base of the song. There is one point in the video which clearly expresses her 'controlling the song' is when the video and music slows down as she flicks her hair in the club.

3) Point 3: We can identify that it is a music with a pop/ hip hop genre when there is a mixture of synchronised choreography of the cheerleaders, the 'party scene' and twerking. 

4) Point 4: The camera focuses on Iggy Azalea every time she opens her mouth. Moreover, there is a mixture of the factors in point 5 with point 4 in this music video. When Iggy, does a sexual dance move, there is a close-up shot of her body parts that follow the men's system of looking. Also, this music video has a featuring artist, Charli XCX, who gets equal amount of camera focusing as Iggy. However, what makes Iggy stand out more is her presence in all of Charli's closeups which keeps the audience in note that Charli isn't the main artist in this MV. 

5) Point 5: Like mentioned in point 4, Iggy throws in sexual dance moves to seduce the audience into watching more of the video.  ''

6) Point 6: This music video is inspired by the movie "Clueless". This is evident in the first scene of the school where Iggy wears the exact replica of clothing that the main character of "Clueless" wore in the movie. 


Example 2: Love the Way You Lie- Eminem ft. Rihanna




Probably one of my most favourite music videos of all time, I would never get bored of this music video and would watch it again sometime. Love the Way you lie follow the Andrew Goodwin points:

1) Point 1: The lyrics in this song describes the feeling of how conflict in love is about. The lyrics matches the actions that the characters make. Like when the boy abuses Megan Fox by hitting her and smashing her into walls. Furthermore, the lyrics in the song is like a flame igniting in the heart of the actors in the MV. Therefore, there are flames within the frame of the video shooting and a house that is on fire.

2) Point 2: Parts of the visuals and the music shares a relationship. Eminem is one of the artists that frequently edits in his voice into characters so it gives a feeling as if Eminem was speaking on behalf of Megan Fox and the actor of the MV. Moreover, there is a part when there is the rest in the tune. Megan Fox's eyes match the exact timing the music stops. 

Point 3: We can identify that this music video is a Rap music video is because of the presence of the artist itself. The outfit that Eminem wears matches a rapper. A tank top, a small necklace, not to mention the stiff and strong movements Eminem makes clearly shows that he is rapping and the quick hand gestures match the rhythm of his rap.

Point 4: The camera focuses on Eminem the most, moreover, it zooms in to Eminem and cameras are shot at different angles as well. We can identify that Rihanna is featuring in this music video because of how Eminem is seen in the background whilst the camera is shot at Rihanna. What makes this MV different to Iggy Azalea's is that it has a story, as a result, the amount of time the camera is shot with Eminem, Rihanna and the characters are split evenly. However, Eminem has more lyric minutes which clearly shows that he made the song. 

Point 5: The main reason this music video attract viewers other than Eminem is Megan Fox. She is the pinnacle of beautiful women. So the camera is shot in angles where Megan is sleeping and the voyeurism is seen when Megan Fox is curved up and wears small clothing. Also, there are sexual interaction scenes in the MV as well which attracts more viewers and making them want to watch longer. 

Point 6: This music video uses hollywood actors like Megan Fox who plays in Transformers and Ninja Turtles and Dominic Monoghan who was a mutant in X-men Origins: Wolverine.

1) Lyrics and Visuals

Illustration: In this section, we will identify a music video that has a clear connection between the lyrics. A clear example would be Colonel Abrams' Trapped lyrics, where the visuals in the music video shows the lyrics of his song, literally mentioning things like "I'm trapped, like a fool I'm in a cage" this was where the visuals in the video shows him being trapped in a cage. That aside, back to the 21st century, the main song that I am going to highlight is Nick Jonas' song "Close" featuring Tove Lo. Where the "magnetic effect" that attracts Tove Lo and Nick together matches his lyrics and the title of the song. He mentions the word "close" a lot as well in the song. The word "close" acts as the trigger word; whenever Nick sings "Close" with his overly high pitched voice, the editing of the video will attract Nick and Tove Lo in together. 

Contradict: This is when, the lyrics and music do not relate to one another. A perfect example will be Rich Chigga's (Brian Emmanuel) Dat Stick. This is a rap music video, however the lyrics and the singer don't match the "stereotype" of a rap video. Rap videos suppose to have artist wearing shiny chains and dark coloured clothing most of the time. However, Brian Emmanuel was wearing a buttoned up pink polo shirt with a fanny pack on his waist whilst rapping next to his asian friends who are dressed "rapper" like.

Amplify: This next music video is one that I have recently came across. I tried listening to a wider range of rappers other than Kendrick Lamar and Eminem, so I came across J Cole. His song "She Knows" was stuck in my ear, not only with its smooth tune to a rap song but also the deep message that it gave in the music video. J Cole's song "She Knows" was part of his album "Born Sinner" which was released in 2013. This album really highlighted strongly on J-Cole's fight against his habits as being "unfaithful". It means that he cheats on his girlfriend a lot with other girls and in this song, he tries to fight the temptation of being unfaithful by creating a music video that sees being "unfaithful" to a whole new level. 

He tries to see his act in the wider field by imagining himself being in the position of the a "son" who is a victim of where the son's mother is cheating on his father with J-Cole himself. The lyrics that J-Cole raps out slowly progresses to the audience's realisation, lyrics like; "know i got a girl back home, tryna be the man that she wants" and the repetition of "she knows" progresses later in the video. The audience needs to listen to the song more than once to understand the picture, but some can identify it straight away in the music video.

THE LYRICS MAY BE A BIT EXPLICIT:




2) Music and Visuals

Illustrate: For this to be achievable, the tune of the song and the video must relate, as if the artist is controlling the functions of the music. Changing its tone, rhythm, pitch, bass dropping, etc. A perfect example would be "Purple Lamborghini" by Skrillex and Rick Ross. The dubstep rhythm and beats of the song controls the camerawork of the video making it shaky most of the time. There are a plethora of angle changes as well as the EDM style of music progress. A particular iconic scene in the music video would be when the Joker moves his head and changes emotions as the bass drops. 




Contradicts: When the music and the visuals don't match i.e; the visuals have a slow pace where as the music is rather fast. This agenda is common to the "contradicting" of visuals and music. A music video that does not match its visuals would be Taylor Swift's song "Everything has Changed" featuring Ed Sheeran. The tempo of the music throughout is fast, however the video is shot and edited in a slight slower motion, slowing down the pace of the video by a quarter to distant the difference in pace of visual and music. 

via GIPHY

Research: How stars are made

How Stars are crafted

Through every era of modern music, there will always stars that shine bright on the performance stage. The term believed to first be used in the 1930's has now evolved to more than just singers on stage. Superstars are suppose to et examples and act perfect in their own artistic ways. Each star has his/her charm and talent and that's the key of making them special. 

 All stars weren't born, they were made and crafted and the main idea of being is that:

Stars function as a signifier, they mediate a single specifiable meaning.

- Secondly, according to the analyst Marshall McLuhan; Stars embody "hot media values" which means that stars are the pinnacle of medias such as film and radio. They are the changing point of these types of media with their "good looks" and "god given talent". They are the semiotic of each music company, film studio etc. 

- Third, according to Richard Griffiths; A star is made "in depth of the collective unconscious". They are considered "Gods", some were worshipped and looked up for their ability to perform. 

Research: The Reinvention of JB

Back with Bieber Fever!

Justin Bieber is back after 18 months, maybe a couple of years more after he was silent and hidden from the entertainment world. Back then, Bieber was perfection in every thirteen year old girl's dreams. But now, Bieber has grown up, and what used to be crowded by tween fans crying the moment they saw his face, to now teenage men and women who like his new Tropical house/EDM genre songs. However, those who weren't fans of Justin would not know why he went underground and would be in the shadows from the likes of One Direction (5 Biebers) and other girl crazy teenage pop stars. 

Before Bieber got where he was now, he was just a Canadian Youtuber who became famous through social media. He then became famous when he signed with "The Island def" where he worked under Usher Raymond to make his first One hit Wonder "My World 2.0". The hype started when the release of the music video "Baby" was released in 2010. Teenage girls went crazy and just like that, he became a teenage popstar and "My World 2.0" was a hit, earning over $6 million. 

But,as Justin Bieber got older, things started to go downhill, he egged his neighbour's house, spat on people from his hotel balcony, addressed Bill Clinton with bad language, was seen as a player from the leaked pictures seen with girls, smoked marijuana and even left his pet monkey alone in Germany. His overall image was failing and started to lose his fans. He became unpopular, started losing his salary from decreased sales of albums. He was considered a joke and was under the shadows of One Direction. 

However, over the past year, Justin Bieber came back and there were four key terms on how he got back and how his manager and company helped him get back on his feet:

Work

Just as the title says, Bieber has to put in a lot of work to get back up on his feet:

-First, his music company and manager sat down and gave him an Ultimatum. They told him to "change his attitude or else he would get dumped". An intervention that pushed him forward into changing himself. 

- In terms of music, he took the art more seriously. Before, Bieber wrote songs with no incentive or message, songs like "Baby" and "Somebody to Love" were vague songs with no message. Now, in 2016, he turned his genre around from Pop RnB to Tropical House music that has a specific message which was "Apologies" and "Change".

Bieber before:

Bieber Now:

Criticism 

In order for Bieber to change, he had to realise how much of a "bad influence" he was, so what idea would be better to get roasted on public television on comedy central roast. The roast to Justin was seen as entertaining as he laughs off his old immature self and is open to embrace his new self and become a man. 

Research: Six Stills

Six Stills

Some of my favourite music videos can teach me a lot on camerawork, lighting, editing and meanings of the shot. Here are some of the screenshots of the MV's I listen to:

1) Alright: Kendrick Lamar

This is a wide-shot of policemen carrying an old American Muscle during the beginning of the Music video. Inside the car is Kendrick rapping as he gets carried off by four policemen. The song "Alright" reflects on the inequality of whites and the colored in America. It also reflects on the corruption of police officers that are increasing in numbers this year. The use of Black and White filters clearly executes the message. Black and white filters that are used throughout the entire music video indicates the clashing of white and colored people of America and the unnecessary violence acted by the police. 

In terms of the still image itself. The positioning of the policemen who are lifting the car brings question to the audience. Are they assisting Kendrick and the music video is all about the true meaning of equality and fairness. Or are the police taking desperate measures in escorting colored people to jail for no particular reason. The choice of a car is used in this because it is a stereotype in the U.S during the 1960's-90's, black men are seen as people who steal and cause crime. As a result, Kendrick Lamar is trying to tell the audience how mislead white people are and how corrupted the system is by using a common stereotype to judge others who are innocent. In terms of editing, it is clearly seen that the car and the police have 2 separate frames and are combined together during the scene of the still  image.

This still image makes me learn the concepts of editing objects into a frame and to create meaning for my music video, sending a message to the audience discussing about social problems in the world.



2) Take Care: Drake

This still image of drake falling into pieces requires a lot of editing. The actual part of the music video was taken by a slow motion camera and captured scenes of animals in slow motion such as a bull shivering and humming birds flying in slow motion. The slow motion of the scene signifies how love can slow things down and the beauty of a women can brainwash a person, breaking him into pieces. 

I enjoy this music video because of its unique camerawork and editing which consists of mostly slow motion cameras which goes well with a slow tune. At first, I was considering taking up this idea and use of camerawork to my music video coursework alongside with a slow and smooth song, something like Drake's "Take Care" song. This MV taught me the concepts of editing and showed me the beauty behind slow motion camerawork which I am considering to take up more.

3) No Church in the Wild: Jay Z & Kanye West

Again with another conceptual MV. No Church in the Wild is a music video that expresses the break of religion. People breaking the pyramid life as they try to overthrow God. But first, they need to go through God's guadians of justice (police). It highlights the rage of people as the lyrics itself in the song gradually fills the listener with rage. In addition to adding video, the MV uses different objects to signify rage. 

For example the wide shot shown above. Where the camera is focused only to the person who is about to throw the molotov as he is backed up with other men. In terms of mis-en-scene, the positioning of the mob and the molotov person are significant. It gives evidence that the person throwing the molotov is carrying the rage of the other mobbers as if he is releasing the fire on behalf of the members of the mob who back him up.  Fire spreads wherever there's oil, in this case, after the molotov is dropped, the fire spreads in the exact same shape of the shadows of the other mob members. This marks the rage from the very beginning of the music video. 

This shot taught me how to use objects as a semiotic for particular reason. 

4) When I'm Gone: Eminem

For this music video, I focus on the editing because it is considered the strongest factor other than the portrayal in the MV. When I'm Gone is a song by Eminem where he was in his good rap years before going into rehabilitation. He has to choose between his life as a rapper and his life as a father. The main setting of the music video is taken place at a rehabilitation centre where Eminem is about to share his personal story about his daughter. 

 In this music video, Eminem makes his relationship with his daughter stronger by using different transition cuts to different incidences. One; to the exact moment he was with his daughter Hailie to two; the rehabilitation centre as he is sharing the story, this editing is scene throughout the music video to strengthen the bond between him and his daughter. Another location was used near the end of the music video which is the performance in Sweden but this shift is a smooth fade out cut with Eminem changing from loose rap clothing to a suit.

As seen here:

1)

2)

Second, Eminem uses fade out cuts to transport certain objects his daughter gave him from the same location as the first case of cuts to the other location. He used this twice, when his daughter gave him the necklace locket, and later used again when his daughter threw him the "#1 Dad" coin. These objects were used because it links both past and present together and to show that Eminem has a strong bond with her daughter due to the little memories and things his daughter did to him.

As seen here:

Locket:

Coin:

Lastly, the editing of sound as Eminem insert parts of his song lyrics to the actress who played his daughter. This was used to again, tell the audience about the strong bond. He and his daughter are one. 

This particular scene is similar to a conversation between father and daughter where first, Hailie says "Daddy its me! Help mommy, her wrist are bleeding". Then, Eminem replies "But baby we're in Sweden, how did you get to Sweden?" which is later replied by Hailie "I followed you daddy, you told me that you weren't leaving". All of this seems like a normal conversation, but in the music video, it feels like a rap battle between Eminem and his daughter. Audio is all done in Eminem's voice. 

This MV taught me how to use editing and a plethora of settings to create a strong and personal feeling. Also, it taught me that the "video" in the music video does not have to be in chronological order always.

5) Wings: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Wings is a song that discusses the addiction of basketball shoes to sneakerheads. It discusses the lies that a company makes to attract consumers through the use of a superstar basketball shoe the "Air Jordan" collection which is said to be one of the top performance sneakers and every year, there will always be a new line waiting. It highlights the actions of society being addicted to trends and thinking these objects are "special". 

In this mid shot of 2 pairs of Air Jordan 4's that can be visible in the frame. The shoes have the same colourway and design. However, the camera is focussed to one pair other than the other which shows the boy's popularity slowly fading away as he soon realizes that his "pair of shoes" are not special anymore and they are just another expensive pair which will one day be priceless. 

I can learn how to use camerawork to divide the level of significance of things. Furthermore, I can learn from the positioning (close to frame or far to frame) & (the angle of the object which can alter the level of importance) of the actors or objects to compare which is more higher in rank.

6) Airplanes: B.O.B ft. Hayley Williams (Paramore)

For the final still, what I like about this wideshot of B.O.B is the use of backlight or a projector that is shone towards him to achieve a "dreamlike" feeling as if being in the sky. Furthermore, I like the setting of the shot as well, being in a basement/ underground area with a cement wall to make the backlight visible, giving it an "artsy" style as well.  What I can learn from this final still is the ability to use space and backlight to create a "nostalgic" music video. 

via GIPHY