We are going to look at the codes and conventions within a music video of the pop rock genre. As we are going to produce a music video for the song ‘Heartbreaker’ by the recording artist ‘Pink’ we are going to look into other music videos of the same genre to see what codes and conventions have been used.
The first video we are going to look at is ‘7 Things (I Hate About You)’ by Miley Cyrus.
She is represented as a teenager that has experienced a break up with someone she loved and trusted. The video is narrative and has a performance element throughout. The relationship between the music and the visuals is strong as when she is singing about the pain her ex boyfriend put her through and the things she dislikes about him, the other girls in the video can relate, and this is shown by the girls lip synching to the lyrics. As Miley Cyrus is singing, she lists the 7 things that she hates about her ex boyfriend, and she also lists them on her fingers. Miley Cyrus and the other girls in the video point and sing into the camera as if to place the blame on the audience, as if they’re the person who has hurt them.
'Now we're standing in the rain...'
There are also several matches between the lyrics and visuals, for example when Miley Cyrus sings the line ‘and now we’re standing in the rain…’ she looks up towards the ceiling as if the rain was falling. Also when she sings ‘it’s not possible for me not to care…’ she places her hand on her heart as if to say it’s her finding it hard not to care.
The second video we looked at was ‘Misery’ by Maroon 5.
This song is also under the pop rock genre. Maroon 5 have two official music videos for this song; the original one is quite violent whereas the UK version of the video has cartoon animations covering the violent parts. We are looking at the codes and conventions within the UK version of this video. In the video the main character played by the band’s lead singer Adam Levine, is represented as a guy who is so in love with his girlfriend, that he doesn’t fight her back when she is violent towards him.
'Why won't you answer me?'
The video includes clips of the band perfoming meaning that the video is partly performanced based. However, the rest of the video is made up of clips of the "girlfriend beating up the boyfriend". These clips are fragmented but they do link with the lyrics. For example, when the lyrics "why won't you answer me?" are sung, we see the female pushing the lead male into the wall.
There are a few similarites between these two videos as the are both from the Pop Rock genre. One being that instruments such as drums and guitars are being played. This allows the audience to see the Rock element of the video and genre. However, both videos feature bright colours such as what the girls are wearing and props in Miley Cyrus - 7 Things, and the animations in Maroon 5 - Misery. This is a common convention of the Pop genre.
Our Initial Ideas...
The song we have chosen to create a music video for is ‘Heartbreaker’ by Pink. The genre of the song is pop rock. Our overall view of the video is to have a lead female lip synching, as if she were the person singing the song. We also have the idea of showing snippets of other girls being ‘heartbroken’ by holding up objects that remind them of a previous relationship. This is similar to the aspect of the ‘7 Things’ video, however unlike that video, we like the idea of including flashbacks in black and white of the couples past memories together.
Location
·Past memories – the river bank, ice skating rink, Windsor town centre
·Girl lip synching in a deserted area such as the Great Park
Performance Style
·Fragmented narrative
·Matching lyrics and visuals – ‘Sparkle in your eye’ we could show that by showing an image of an eye or perhaps sparklers.
‘I’ve got a ring on my finger, but will you change your mind?’ We could film someone taking off their engagement rings.
Props
·The burning and/or ripping of photos
·Necklaces
·Rose petals
·Teddy bear
·Flash boards with the song lyrics written on them, being held by female cast members
Effects (Final Cut? Photoshop)
·Black and white
·Slow motion – for some clips
·Colour
·Extreme close ups of certain objects such as eyes, tears, laughing and smiling
Audience Attraction
·Because it has a fragmented narrative, you’d want to continue watching to find out the whole story
·It’s a catchy song
·The lyrics link with the visuals
·The visuals will be interesting and always changing
Typical conventions of a pop album magazine advert would include the band/artists name in large, bold letters to attract the audience quickly. The date of the album release would also be included somewhere on the magazine advert, usually in a smaller print, as this is what the advert is advertising.
The band/artist’s image and style would also be portrayed somewhere in the advert, such as in a photograph of them or via the scenery, hair and make-up. Another convention that would be included in a magazine advert would be a few of the album’s featuring songs. This is typical in the pop genre as it makes the audience aware of their previous songs and hits.
Nowadays pop music is still available on CD’s however it is widely available to download through websites such as iTunes. Photographs are usually the main image on a magazine advert as well as the album cover, and are a very popular choice as they can be easily edited and airbrushed to attract the audience more.
Record labels are often stated, although in a smaller print as this isn’t the main focus of the advert. Nowadays the majority of pop artists have an official website, facebook or myspace page which is also featured on the advert. Sometimes quotes and ratings from magazines and critics are included in the advert, along with the band/artists achievements including awards and nominations. This can help to publicise the album.
The magazine adverts for pop artists upcoming albums often consist of bright, vibrant colours to fit within the theme of the genre of pop and also to attract audiences.
Above is an image from Google that we found of a magazine advert for Katy Perry's album.
These two magazine adverts are very different mainly because of the two different genres. We are comparing Janet Jackson’s ‘Discipline’ album and Band of Skulls single ‘Fires’. On the Band of Skulls single the band name and single title is central at the top of the advert whereas on Janet Jackson’s advert she has her name and her album’s name painted onto her black PVC gloves. On the advert for Janet Jackson’s album, the release date is in smaller print than the albums title. It is located at the bottom of the advert in the centre where it is visible to the naked eye. The Band of Skulls advert doesn’t have an official release date; it just says ‘Out now’ above the CD’s cover. From looking at the magazine advert for Janet Jackson’s album, we can see that her styling and image is very ‘in theme’ with the R&B and Pop genres. From the information on the advert, we can see that Janet Jackson is making a comeback, and the colour choice of the advert reflects this as it is striking in black and white. The Band of Skulls advert doesn’t feature any images of the actual band themselves however; they have an image of fire to portray the theme of their single ‘Fires’. The black background of the magazine advert reflects the rock genre and the orangey tones reflect the theme of the single titled ‘Fires’.
From the Band of Skulls advert we can see that the single features the song entitled ‘Fires’ as it clearly stated in the middle of the advert in italic font. The advert for Janet Jackson’s album features the songs ‘Feedback’ and ‘Luv’, which is located in smaller print at the bottom of the advert.
We can see from Janet Jackson’s magazine advert that her album is to be released on CD and available to download. Whereas, the Band of Skulls single ‘Fires’ is available on 7” and download. The single’s artwork for the Band of Skulls is also the background for the magazine advert which brings the magazine advertisement together. Janet Jackson’s magazine advert is her album artwork and, is purely based around her and her comeback therefore they use a photo of her than artwork.
There is no indication of record labels on either magazine advert; however both artists have their official website stated on the magazine adverts and the Band of Skulls also have their official MySpace displayed on the advert. Along with all the other information displayed on the advert for Janet Jackson’s album ‘Discipline’ it says ‘5-time Grammy Award Winner and Oscar Nominated’ and ‘She’s got her groove back – Touch magazine’. However the Band of Skulls do not have any critical quotes or ratings on the advert, which indicates that they are either an upcoming band, or not as well known as artists including Janet Jackson.
There are different codes which feature in magazine adverts for new music albums. These codes appear on the advert in order to attract an audience to the music album. These codes are as follows:
Name of band/artist and album
Date of album release
Band/artist image/style
Featuring songs
Form of release (CD, download)
Either photograph or artwork as main image
Record company
Band's website - myspace, official page
Critical quotes, ratings
Set colour scheme
Conventions of advert will differ depending on the genre of music being advertised. For example, pop and hip-hop adverts would differ due to the codes used and the type of music they are portraying.
The two genres I will be comparing and contrasting, is Indie Rock and Pop. The Indie Rock video I will be looking at is Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor and the Pop music video I will be comparing it to is The Wanted - Glad You Came.
The Arctic Monkeys video is a typical Rock video as it is purely performance based. The whole video shows the band performing live.
There are no links between lyrics and visuals as the video is just the band performing so the lyrics don't really relate to the visuals.
Long shot of band
Camera shots in this video include a long shot at the beginning which introduces the band, the video and the genre of music. We can tell the genre of music from the opening shot as it features the band with their instruments such as drums and guitars. This automatically tells the audience that its a Rock based music video. Another typical camera shot used in Rock videos includes the close up shot of the guitar. This emphasis the Rock element and tells the audience that they play their own instruments.
Extreme close up of singers face during perfomance
Another camera shot used is the close up of the lead singer's face as he sings. This portrays the emotion and 'passionate' feeling to the audience. In a few of the shots we can also see a band member in the foreground as well as someone in the background. The lighting in this video is also quite dark which again is a typical trait of the rock genre.
Singer in foreground with drummer in background
Party scene
The Wanted's 'Glad You Came' video is very different to Arctic Monkeys. This is mainly because of the genre of music. The Wanted are a Pop based group which means the video includes many more conventions of a Pop video.
Beach scene
This video has a fragmented structure as it shows different shots quickly throughout the video but they're not necessarily in the right order. At the beginning we see different scenes flash on the screen to the beat of the music. These shots include beach scenes, party and club scenes. The club and party scenes include flashing bright lights and people dancing which again, are typical aspects seen in many Pop videos.
From only the first few shots, we can tell that the video represents a holiday.
Throughout the video, other scenes include the band performing and singing to the camera.
Band at the beginning of video
Similarly to Arctic Monkeys video, 'Glad You Came' also features a shot of the band at the beginning of the video which allows the audience to be introduced to the band.
The Wanted's 'Glad You Came' video has a lot more happening in the video than the Arctic Monkeys 'Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor'. The different scenes in the 'Glad You Came' video is typical of a Pop video as there are many different scenes and scenarios. Whereas the Arctic Monkeys video is just performace based therefore there is only one scenario and no cuts to different scenes.
A similarity between the two very different videos is that at the beginning text appears with the band's name and the name of the song.
Intro to Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor
I am going to compare two music video's in order to see the different elements that make the video fit a specific genre. I have chosen to compare Britney Spears - 'Till The World Ends' which comes under the dance-pop/electro-pop genre and Chris Brown ft. Justin Bieber - 'Next 2 You' which comes under the genre of R&B.
Both videos have links between the lyrics and the music even though they are different genres and both videos also have links between the lyrics and visuals. Below are some image stills from both music videos, that show the links between lyrics and visuals.
"See the sunlight..."
"Keep on dancing..."
"Till the world ends..."
"We aint stopping..."
"You got that smile, that only heaven can make..."
"I pray to God everyday..."
"One day when the sky is falling..."
"I'll be standing..."
When it comes to genre characteristics the certain traits within the music videos are immediately obvious. From Britney Spears' pop video, there are bright colours, background dancers and a club vibe in an underground location. The popular traits that I noticed were in Chris Brown and Justin Bieber's R&B music video were dark colours, street dancing and cars. The notions of looking within 'Till The World Ends' portrays Britney Spears as a sexy pop artist, and this is achieved by the hair, make-up, styling, dance routines and the track itself. However, Chris Brown is portrayed as a romantic and a hero in 'Next 2 You' and Justin Bieber is also portrayed as a romantic young hearthrob. From watching both videos, I couldnt see any intertextual reference. It has been included in a variety of music videos including Pop and R&B video's, however there wasnt any within the two video's I am comparing. The majority of Britney Spears' music video's consist of very similar traits as she mainly produces Pop music. Just like in several of her other video's, Britney Spears does a dance routine, wears various different outfits and is surrounded by flashing lights and dancers. This is something that the record labels do to their signed artists to give them a certain image and style. Whilst watching Chris Brown and Justin Bieber perform their song in the music video, the audience can see that they are both talented dancers as well as singers. By showcasing several of the artists many talents in a music video, the producers of the record label can help to enhance an artists career further. The music video for 'Next 2 You' has a linear narrative although the ending isnt 100% clear. Its obvious a story is being told, and the audience can see that the world is falling apart (quite literally!) and that Chris Brown and Justin Bieber are heroes within the video. 'Till The World Ends' is more or less performance based as it doesnt have a particular story, Britney Spears is just performing the song.
Overall, although the two music videos come under different genres, they both have a handful of similar traits and elements that help to define a specific genre within music.
During one of our lessons, we learnt the basics about Photoshop. We then had a go ourselves at editing an image or two. First of all we started with a simple headshot image of Simon Cowell which we got from Google images. We then got another image from Google of some rotten teeth, cut around the mouth, then copied and pasted the image onto the background layer which placed the image of rotten teeth ontop of the image of Simon Cowell. We then used an image from Google of a 'Dobby' mask (the character from Harry Potter). We cut around Dobby's ears one at a time then copied and pasted them onto the previous layer. We roated the ears slightly to fit Simon Cowell's head then used the blur tool to blend the ears into the sides of his head. As we were continuing to experiment with the different effects and tools that could be used, we discovered we could clone part of an image. We used the clone stamp tool to clone part of Simon Cowell's eyebrow, then we pasted the cloned image onto the image of his face, creating a monobrow. We all enjoyed this experiment and found it quite easy to quickly edit an image.
Below are the original images that we combined and edited in order to get our finished image pictured above.
Chris Cunningham is an English video artist from Reading and he is also a music video film director. He has been nominated for several awards for his work from 1996 to 2011 and he even won the MTV Breakthrough Video Award for Bjork’s “All Is Full of Love”. He also directed the successful music video “Frozen” for Madonna in 1998 winning the VMA for ‘Best Special Effects’.
From watching a few of the videos that Chris Cunningham has directed we have noticed they all have a linear narrative, the lyrics link with the visuals and a message is portrayed in each video. Both videos have an empowering element as the video progresses, this being either the music or the lyrics.
Aphex Twin’s – Windowlicker
Madonna – Frozen
Bjork – All Is Full Of Love
In the music video ‘Frozen’ by Madonna, his main special effect is Madonna turning into different animals including birds and a dog. In the video for Bjork he uses special effects to make her into a robot. The video for ‘Windowlicker’ by the Aphex Twins is a typical hip-hop video because it consists of fancy cars, pretty women and a party island. This one doesn’t really include many special effects, it’s simply a story being told from beginning to end, and therefore it has a linear narrative.
The flock of birds Madonna turned into...
The dog Madonna also turned into...
Madonna falling backwards...
Madonna performing her song 'Frozen'...
Special effects...
One of the recognisable signatures of Chris Cunningham’s work is colour. We have noticed from watching all three video’s that he mainly focuses on using black and white. ‘Frozen’ was a very dark video consisting of black and grey tones, whereas ‘All Is Full of Love’ and ‘Windowlicker’ were mostly white and silver tones.
The camera shots and transitions tend to be shorter when there are special effects involved. The ‘Windowlicker’ video is very upbeat so Cunningham used fast moving transitions to match.
The ‘All Is Full of Love’ video has a linear narrative however the music is overpowering the lyrics. Without the music the story is much clearer through the visuals.
The ‘Windowlicker’ video also has a linear narrative. As I previously said, the video is a typical hip-hop video and the girls used in the video are stereotypically ‘party girls’. It has an upbeat vibe and was a very successful video. Without the music to this video, the viewers wouldn’t be able to understand as there aren’t any lyrics.
Fancy limousine...
Aphex Twin and female dancers performing to create a party scene...
The music video for ‘Frozen’ has juxtaposing visuals and lyrics as she’s located in the middle of a desert yet singing about a person whose being distant and doesn’t have any emotional attachment.
The location for the music video ‘All Is Full of Love’ by Bjork is set in what looks like a factory. This is an appropriate choice as the concept of the music video is Bjork being made piece by piece and in the end finds love and is complete.
Bjork's robot being made piece by piece...
The robot's face...
Bjork's robot body created via special effects...
The two robot's together at the end; a happy ever after...
When it comes to actors within the music videos we have looked at, each video varies. Madonna is the only person to star in her video whereas Bjork is joined by a male love interest who is also a robot and in the Aphex Twin’s video he is the main character yet he is joined by several extra’s in order to create a party atmosphere.
Soundies – A soundie is a three minute black and white musical film. They were produced between 1940 and 1946 in New York City, Hollywood and Chicago. The 1940’s were considered the ‘Golden Age’ in America. Soundies covered a variety of genres including classical, big-band swing, hillbilly novelties and patriotic songs. The soundies were projected in several places such as bars, restaurants, nightclubs, factory lounges and amusement centres on coin operated jukeboxes. Various companies produced soundies including Minoco, RCM Productions (managed by James Roosevelt, FDR’s son). Sam Coslow worked as a pioneer in development of arcade music machines and he came up with the link to display the soundies on panorams.
Scopitone – In the 1960’s scopitones were produced which were a type of jukebox which needed a 16mm film component. Scoptione films were an early form of the music videos we have today. The scopitones were distributed in colour. It originated from France in the early 1960’s and by 1964 there were around 500 scopitones in the USA, and they were becoming popular around Europe too. Scopitones were the ancestors of today’s music videos. Unknown artists sang popular English songs with 36 different titles.
Experimental film – Experimental films were around in the 1920’s. A small number of people were interested in the experimental films. Some of the characteristics of experimental films are formed by the absence of linear narrative. Most experimental films consisted of abstract images, out of focus shots and rapid editing. It was known as an individual genre with its own codes and conventions. The longest experimental film was 8 hours, made in the 1960’s.
Several of Goodwin’s points can be seen in the music video above: 'Love Story' by Taylor Swift
Lyrics and music – In this video there are points in where the music tends to overpower the lyrics “marry me Juliet you never have to be alone” the music is upbeat emphasising the story being told through the song ‘Romeo and Juliet’.The music is country style genre and with some of the lyrics without seeing the music video it relates to the genre “and the flashbacks starts I’m standing there on a balcony in summer air” The balcony is usually referred in country music and is a representation of the countryside.
Lyrics and visuals – In this video there are many links to the lyrics and visuals this is seen in the music video in many ways for example “so I sneak out to the garden to see you” you see that the main character ‘Juliet’ in gardens with a lantern. Another example of lyrics and visual match on action “we were both young when i first saw you” you see that the next main character ‘Romeo’ is being looked at by the main character 'Juliet'. As the lyrics get more powerful the story is told through the visuals and the more the audience sees.
Genre characteristics – The genre of this music video is country pop. So there has to be some certain elements in the music video that can relate to it being country pop. An example of the music video being country is when there is a scene in the middle of fields which is countryside, and in the beginning of the music video there is a scene from where it is modern sticking to the genre pop as well.
Notions of looking – The music video contains a few notions of looking where the women are portrayed as the weaker sex. There is a scene in the music video where the man is doing the leading even thought the music video tells the story from the women’s point of view. Country Pop usually have been known to have stereotypes women as the weaker sexand men usually do all the first moves and leading.
Intertextual reference – Taylor Swift is signed to ‘Big Machines’ who are well known in the music industry and ‘big machines’ are commonly known for the genre country and distribute country music. With such a huge fan base of both the label and the artist the music video “Love Story” is bound to have been a success in the music industry. With the music video having more than 71 million hits in less than 2 years.
Demands on label – Being signed to ‘Big Machines’ known for country music obviously the artist has restrictions on doing other genres. But Taylor Swift has always gone back to her roots of country music but combining it with something like pop. Being known worldwide and having a reputation of country music helps the artist and record label succeed.
Structure – Watching the music video you can see that there is a structure and the story of the music video. This music video has the story line of Romeo and Juliet so even though the audiences know the story of Romeo and Juliet they are intrigued by the modern interpretation of it. It tells the story from flashbacks then from beginning to the end.
