Moodboard for Music Video

This is the moodboard I created to inspire our music video "Monster" by Imagine Dragons.

In this moodboard, I focus on the low key lighting, impressions of vampires and Dracula in the modern media, Gothic and dark themes and luminescent eyes. I also focused on the colour scheme of black, bright red and bright blue which is common on vampire and Dracula films and intermedia references.

(ATHENA)

Monster by Imagine Dragons Lyric Annotation

This is my annotations for the music video were are going to create. I included important linguistic and structural features which are key terms in helping us focus on out theme. I also jotted down ideas that I would help us edit the scenes later on.

(ATHENA)

Moster by Imagine Dragons (Lyrics)

This is the lyrics for our task:

(ATHENA)

Treatment of Ideas

(ATHENA)

Three Potential Songs and Final Chosen Song

“Holy Ground” by Taylor Swift

Idea:

The narrative of a story is about a happy couple. We see the girl being happy in love with her boyfriend. However, we noticed that the lyrics of the song are all in past tense (“I was reminiscing just the other day”, “And darling, it was good, never looking down/ And right there where we stood was holy ground”). This gave us the idea that what if all this happy moments are all just imaginary. In the bridge part (“Tonight I'm gonna dance, like you were in this room/ But I don't wanna dance, if I'm not dancing with you”), it is revealed that the girl is all alone and the boyfriend is a ghost. AT the end, we see her walking towards a graveyard and toating a glass of champagne to the grave.

Pros	Cons
-          It will be easy to get the characters that will play the part of the lovers. We could just get the members of our group to act the part. -          The rhythm of the song is both slow and fast-paced. The editing will be very efficient as it’s a mixture of long and short takes.	-          The story line of the story is too cliché. It is too common.

“Monster” by Imagine Dragons

Idea:

In this song, we plan to make an intertextual reference to the epistolary novel of Bram Stokes and the movie coming out this year “Dracula”. The narrative centres on a male character, in which he is confused and struggling to “fit” in the world (“Everything inside of me/ Just wanted to fit in”). Then, we present a love interest to make him feel more human. At the end, the character cannot resists and transforms into a vampire. The love interest confides with him, told her to stay away but ignores this. (“If I told you what I was/ Would you turn your back on me?/ And if I seem dangerous/ Would you be scared?”)She then becomes the first victim and become a vampire as well.

Pros	Cons
-          It will be relatively easy to create different ideas with all the vampire films coming out such as Twilight Saga, Dracula Untold, Dracula (1998), Dracula novel. It will be accessible to get inspirations from other forms of media.	-          The main theme of this video is death. It will be very difficult to represent death, as no one has an absolute idea what it is. Also, we will use a lot of ambient setting but we need a low key lighting in this video.

“Youth” by Daughter

Idea:

The narrative that we plan to do in this song is about a dying old woman, looking at her pictures in her past. Then it backtracks to her past when she was still young, having fun, falling in love, falling out of love, being hurt, succeeding, failing and just living. At the end, we see her being left alone by a man, as she passes away with all those memories being burned – with the pictures accidentally falling out her hand and landing in a fire place.

We also had an alternative idea in which we compare lives of the old people when they were young and fast forwards to the present and how it is different now to the young people living their lives.

Pros	Cons
-          The advantage of this is creating a binary opposition – Old VS Young. It will also benefit our exam questions as the controversy of young and old is already present in the media industry.	-          It will difficult to find a person who is willing to play the part of the dying.

(ATHENA)

"Girlfriend" Textual Analysis (Gender)

Girlfriend Gender Analysis from Thenz801

NOTES

Mise-en-scene	Cinematography	Editing
Lighting: High Key Lighting/ Ambient Lighting Setting: The music video was set in an arcade and a stage which has the colour scheme of black and pink. This is to show the artist is passive (pink – stereotypically a feminine colour) and aggressive (black – stereotypically a masculine colour). Props: Guitars, microphone – performance wise Eye glasses – represents intelligence. It is usually a signal of the “unpopular” and “geeky” characters. Costume: Male and black-haired girl has the same black and white combination, pink dress 2 costume changes from Lavigne – White tee white dark blue short and blue shirt white a dark green shorts and fish nets. Blue costume emphasises her body more, especially the chest area as it is fitted. Make-Up: Lavigne and her punk character wears a thick eye liner whilst her nerd character is wearing a light make up Target audience: Female (teenagers)	High angle shot – shows her submissiveness. Reinforces what the lyrics shows – which she wants to be the “girlfriend” material. Her target audience is young females which are showing that she is seducing but to set an “example” for the young women to be like her. Low angle shot – shows her body, looking down shows that even though she’s submissive, she still a strong, superior woman who can have her way. Medium Shot and close up shot – to show her facial expression; establish a more intimate relationship with her audience Long shot/ wide shot – show her performance and the band *Voyeurism – through a mirror and a camera booth	Short takes – performance Long Takes – narrative Shallow focus on high angle shot

(ATHENA)

Analysing Narrative in Music Video

Avril Lavigne – “Alice (Underground)”

In “Alice”, the artist plays the role of both narrator and protagonist as she tells the narrative of the music video through the lyrics and performance. She also plays the role of the protagonist as the narrative is centred to her, being Alice.

The music video portrays an objective character identity in the narrative as the world of “Wonderland” is seen through Alice’s point of view, which is played by Lavigne.

In this music video, Todorov’s narrative model is loosely applied. Equilibrium is presented when Lavigne is presented near a forest wherein she sees a white rabbit. This is followed by the disruption wherein she follows the rabbit and wanders off into the forest, and unknowingly, she falls down a big hole accidentally. This disruption leads her to a dream-like sequence which is presented through the fade transitions and montage editing embedded in the duration of the video. In this disruption, she meets the Mad Hatter whom she has tea with. Through the montage editing, we also see some characters like Cheshire Cat, The Red Queen and The White Queen. This conflict is resolved when the artist runs away and gets out of the forest. The ideology value that is being reinforced through the narrative structure is that women do not need men to save themselves. It is shown that there is equal power between the genders because the narrative does not have the typical “rescue-the-princess” theme which usually seen in fairy tales. This is also evident in the mise-en-scene wherein the artist is wearing a black, frilly gown which is unusual in a fairy tale theme as the protagonists are usually wearing bright and vibrant clothes such as pink, yellow and blue.

Since the music video has montages of different characters, Lavigne plays the role of the hero while Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat plays the role of the helper. I addition, The White Queen plays the role of the donor and the dispatcher while The Red Queen plays the role of the villain. There is a subversion of gender roles as the artist (Alice) plays the role of the hero, which is stereotypically played by the male character. Also, the lack of the “princess” role in the video shows how women is being independent and doing things to attain their own goals.

The binary oppositions that are present in the music video are:

-          Men VS Women

-          Good VS Evil

-          Dream VS Reality

-          Light VS Dark

-          Protagonist VS Antagonist

-          Young VS Old

-          White VS Red

The binary opposites identify with the central ideological messages in the music videos because it reinforces the subversion of gender roles wherein the hero is female and the helpers are male. This oppositions also indicates the main value of the video that women can be as strong enough as men to change the world. Men are typically strong and independent, but in this video, through Hatter’s body language and facial expression, he seems so desperate to keep Alice (Lavigne) in Wonderland. Furthermore, the conflict that keeps the narrative flowing is the binary opposition of dream and reality with the argument of whether or not Wonderland is real. This is also reflected through the lyrics of the song “Is this real? Is this pretend?”

Barthe’s narrative codes are also illustrated in the music video. The artist chasing the rabbit, falling down the hole and running away from the Hatter are the action codes revealed in the video to show the progress of the narrative.

The fact that the narrative is based on Lewis Carol's story "Alice in Wonderland", the audience already has a prior knowledge about what the narrative is about. This cultural code is also present when we see Lavigne chasing the white rabbit, which is similar to what happened to Alice in Alice in Wonderland.

The enigma code being raised in this video is whether or not the main character is dreaming or not - “Is this real? Is this pretend?”

Based on Cameron's modular narrative theory, the theory that applies in this video is a forking path. This is applicable as it juxtaposes what the original version on Alice in Wonderland is. For example, in mise-en-scene, the original version presents Alice as a naive simple girl with a sky blue dress and white fluffy apron. On the other hand, the music video presents Alice which is Lavigne wearing a black gothic gown, juxtaposing the sweet and naive impression the original Alice has.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll and Alice in Wonderland (2010) movie by Tim Burton is the intertextual reference used in this music video.

Codes and Conventions Research Task

In this post, I have create a Powerpoint presentation to display my research to the codes and convention of music videos in a specific genre. The genres that I chose were Rock, Pop and RnB.

Codes and conventions research task 2 from Thenz801

Codes and Convention Research Task Notes

Genre: Rock

Genre: Pop

Genre: RnB

Codes and conventions of RNB genre from Thenz801

Textual analysis of Music Videos

The video I am analysing is “Love Story” by Taylor Swift and the music video is directed by Trey Fanjoy. “Love Story” is a country-pop based music genre. Because of the intertextual reference of both the lyrics of the song and the music video to William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, it is very common in pop music to have a “romance” theme whilst country music videos portray very meaningful and soulful lyrics. Swift negated the idea of having a tragic ending to the story; instead, she made it to a happy ending which fits to the typical pop music genre with romantic themes because of the upbeat or lively element that we find in pop music.

There were a few examples in which the lyrics illustrate, amplified and contradicted what was shown through the music video.

For example, the first few scenes, the lyrics “I close my eyes and the flashback starts. I’m standing there…” had illustrated what the video portrays in which the [modern] characters’ first eye contact with each other created a flashback effect which was shown through the editing with the use of parallel/cross-cutting; back and forth from the past to the future (Swift and the male character in the school to the Romeo and Juliet scene) .

The lyrics “So I sneak out to the garden to see you… Escape this town for a little while…”, moreover, illustrates what the visual is exhibiting. This is evident as the two characters are seen in a secret and dark garden where they are allowed to be alone together.

The lyrics “And my daddy said ‘stay away from Juliet…’”, on the other hand, negated or contradicted what was being displayed though the visuals. This is because this part is when ‘Romeo and Juliet’ had their first dance which contradicts the imperative in the lyrics stating “stay away from Juliet”. However, this is to amplify the nature of the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet in which the two characters are not allowed to be together but the two ignores what everyone is telling them.

The video change pace with the music and this is evident throughout the whole video. For example, one the first verse and second verse, the pace of the editing is slow which fits with the slow melody and beat of the song. When the music runs through the chorus “Romeo, take me somewhere…”, the pace of the video becomes faster and the rhythm guitar, violin, drums an base guitar are introduced during the chorus part. The pace of the video is faster and this is evident through the editing – which shows a lot of cuts to different sets and scenes.

However, the pace of the video changes as the song ends - “Marry me Juliet. You never have to be alone…” The pace of the video becomes slower even though the beat of the music is very lively. This is because of the lyrics which states “I love you and that’s all I really know…” and this fits to the slow-paced visuals the video is portraying.

William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” has a lot of fanatics and Taylor Swift also has a large number of fan bases. By merging Swift’s song and lyrical render to Shakespeare’s tragedy, the record company makes sure that Swift is portrayed through the character of Juliet. The music video is also used as a promotion for the song – if more people watches or listen to the song, the sales of the song, video and artist also increases.

Swift’s image that is being portrayed through this music video is an innocent, loving and true and this is evident through the mise-en-scene. The lighting is very natural, the costume has a peach/skin tone colour which reinforces her innocence and it also shows that she is young (as Juliet is in her teenage years). Her make is also simple and very pleasing to the eyes. The image of Swift in this music video is very positive and this is shown with the close-up of the artist’s face to show her emotions and her image.

“Love Story” music video relates to her other videos like “You Belong With Me” and “Teardrops On My Guitar” because of the romantic theme and the way that Swift is being presented through her music video and songs. For example, in the You belong With Me, Swift is portrayed in two different characters – the cheerleader and the geek. However, the “geek” character is more dominant in the video with her unrequited love. Through this, we empathise with Swift’s character – pushing her image into a positive outlook just like in Love Story.

The camerawork, costume and dance imply a very sophisticated and conservative display. This is shown through the Elizabethan/Victorian dresses and a very elegant dance scene displayed in the music video.

Dominantly, the camera is placed through Swift’s (Juliet) point-of view and sometimes, on Justin Gaston’s (Romeo) point-of-view. This is to show the relationship between the two characters – showing their intimacy and their love affair with each other. This is also to reinforce the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet but in Swift’s video, it is edited in a way to show the positivity of the story and makes the ending a happy one.

Love Story’s lyrics and music video are based on William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This intertextual reference is used throughout the video and the song. It is used in a way to portray the affair of Romeo and Juliet with Swift’s and Gaston’s portrayal of the two characters. However, instead of displaying the tragedy of this star-crossed lovers, Swift made it into a positive and happy ending “Marry me Juliet. You never have to be alone…”

The music video is both performance-based and narrative-based. However, it is dominantly narrative-based the music video mainly portrays the story of Romeo and Juliet.

In conclusion, Love Story by Taylor Swift’s music video is both narrative and performance-based but dominantly narrative to show the intertextual reference of Romeo and Juliet in both lyrics and music video. Swift’s image that is being portrayed is very positive which is evident in the mise-en-scene, editing and the message of the lyrics.

Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Conventions

•      A relationship between the lyrics and visuals (illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics)

•      A relationship between music and visuals

•      A demand from the record company for lots of close-ups of the main artist

•      Artist develops their own star iconography in and out of their videos

•      Reference to voyeurism (screen within screen, binoculars, cameras…)

•      Intertextual references

•      Narrative, performance or concept based

•      Particular genres may have their own video style and iconography

Introduction

Hello!

My name is Athena Ashley Rosales. I take A2 Media Studies at Bishop Challoner Catholic Collegiate Sixth Form. I speak 2 language fluently - English and Filipino and I also have a basic understanding of Ilocano (Philippine dialect) and Nihonggo (Japanese) language. Film and animation have always amazed and mesmerised me. I have taken interest in animation in 2010 and film in 2012. I plan to take animation in university and make animated films that inspire, nurture and encourage people.

This year, our coursework's aim is to create a music video that looks, sounds and performed professionally. My aim this year is to finish the coursework on time and infuse my creativity in every post that I make in this blog.