Music Video Research Notes

Music Video Research
In this topic, I will be researching different music video theorists (Andrew Goodwin and Carol Vernallis) as well as taking an in-depth look at different music videos and analyzing them, exploring how these theories stand true within modern music videos. After doing this I will create an online survey to ask people what sort of music videos they enjoy and base my final product around these answers and the other research I gather.

Music video analysis and theorist research under different blog posts. See the labels "Research Techniques" and "Music Video"

Survey Results and Analysis
In total I asked 7 questions in my survey some being multiple choice and some asking for the user to type an answer, causing them to think more about their response, giving me a more detailed answer for me to base my video from. I got a variety of answers from my survey helping me see what people were into when it came to music videos.

My questions and the results they gathered:

 Overall my studies show that audiences prefer a performance-based video with quite literal or exaggerated lyrics. This works well with my initial ideas for the music video however I will have to think of ways to meet the consumer's need for performance-based and work it into my ideas I already have for the music video. Next time when using surveys to find out what the consumer likes I would like to expand my queries through more questioning and a wider range of audience, these are the only things I would change looking back at this experience as I believe getting a wider range of answers would do nothing but improve my knowledge going into the planning phase.

Focus Group
During this stage of my research, I have a partial plan for my ideas of what I want my finished product to look like, however, this focus group has really helped me develop these ideas and take them to a further level. For example, this focus group has given me an idea to include a Chinese whispers style to help incorporate different elements of Andrew Goodwin's theory to my music video such as giving it a basic narrative and incorporating small elements of performance through whispering the lyrics of the song. Rather than changing my ideas, this focus group helped me develop more ideas to help incorporate different elements of these theories that I have been researching. 

Concluding My Research

Looking back at my research during this unit I studied different theorists like Carol Vernalis and Andrew Goodwin and analyzed different music videos seeing how their theories apply within newer songs, I looked at what work they published highlighting the different conventions they discovered within music videos and looked at how I would implement them into my work. Some of the key points I took away from Carol's work is the use of editing towards the beat of the song and also the significance of establishing shots to create a world for the audience to connect to when watching, I found this research very effective when producing my music video as it gave me an idea of how I can edit my chosen song together, for example, opening up with an establishing shot showing the audience the warm home that the majority of the video is set within while also giving me the idea of editing the claps within the song to the beat, in doing this I was following common conventions within music videos while also showing off some of my editing skills in the process. Looking at Andrew Goodwin's theory I took away some key points such as the different genres the music videos can have, in doing this I decided on what genre of the music video I wanted on during the pre-production stage of developing my music video, in doing this gives me a more solid plan and by following these genres (in this case, I followed litteral and performance-based videos) it shows I can create a music video that matches the conventions of other professional music videos, giving my product a more professional look. After looking at the two theorists I analyzed music videos looking for key elements of the theories, in doing this I saw how these theories were applied in a practical approach such as the establishing shots to create a world for the audience to connect to. When analyzing music the videos I tried to choose different styles that I knew I could gather different information from and see different elements of these theories so I chose Pressure by Muse, Call Me Maybe by Carley Rae Jepsen and Firework by Katy Perry. In choosing these different music videos I saw examples of the different genres of music videos that Andrew Goodwin mentions in his theories while also seeing similar elements of these theories in the music videos such as editing to the beat and establishing a world. When looking back at this information I gathered I was pretty happy with the results as I managed to discover many different codes and conventions of music videos and learnt how they get applied practically by analysing random videos and searching out where these theorists appear, in doing this it helped me when producing my music video as I knew what elements to include and how to do it such as the editing to a beat and set the music video around a certain genre, so overall I was very happy with this element of my research as I could effectively use it to improve my final product.

The next stage of my research came in the form of asking others questions in what they prefer within a music video and using this data to plan my music video around what the audience would want. Overall this is the weakest part of my research with a low sum of questions and field of answers however I do believe this was still effective when it came to planning my research as I still gathered what style of video my audience liked even if the audience pool was limited. When applying this information to my planning stage I knew what my audiences need where and decided to create a video that works around that. When talking about the limitations of this research it is clear that I needed to ask more people and ask more questions to gather a broader range of information, in doing this it will help me gather a better and more legitimate idea of my audiences likes within music videos.

After this research was complete and I was during the planning phase of my music video I participated within a focus group with other members of my class in which we discussed everyone's basic ideas for their music videos, It was here where  I developed my ideas for my video further, coming up with ideas like a Chinese whispers style video between multiple peoples, in doing this I would be able to have elements of narrative, performance, and litteral within my music video through this telling a story while copying the lyrics such as "Tell me all your secrets" and obviously the elements of performance being the whispering. Overall I would call this element of my research successful as I managed to share my ideas with my peers and improve and develop my ideas before the production began.

In conclusion, I am very happy with the research I gathered and the quality of it as I have managed to gather the information that has helped shape my ideas for this project and improve the quality of my product, next time I would focus more on my questionnaire and gathering information from the public by increasing the range of questions and the people I asked within this section of research, however, I am still happy with the research I gathered and the ideas I developed because of it and I believe it positively affected the outcome of my finished product

Music Video Analysis

Pressure - Muse

When looking at music videos within this unit I analyzed Pressure by Muse. The music video opens up with an establishing shot of a high school at dusk, this quickly sets up the setting for the music video, following statements that Carol Vernallis made in her published theory that due to the short nature of music videos they must quickly establish the setting and the world in which it is set in, therefore in creating this establishing shot it gets the audience accustomed to their setting in only a short few seconds shot. The next shot is a panning long shot of the school hall, revealing more information about this world to the audience, this shot does a multiple of things such as introducing a colour palette within the mise en scene that the rest of the music video follows, while also establishing another key element of the music video, a narrative through the actors speaking and the song not playing yet. The audience (in this case the literal audience and the audience being spoken to in the music video) then get introduced to the high school band, who are being played by the members of Muse, This is when the song begins. At this point, the audience jumps up in joy and begin dancing as the band plays their song, this can reflect the audience's reaction to the beginning of the song as well due to the long introduction before the music began being very unconventional could lead to the literal audience becoming uninterested or at least impatient. Following this the shots begin to pan around the audience as they are now dancing, cutting at regular times and keeping a steady pace with the song itself, which is another element of Carol Vernallises' theory as the video begins to get edited to the pace and beat of the song itself. Following this series of shots is when Andrew Goodwin's theory on music video comes into play as two of the members of the audience begin to ride away together into the empty dimly lit school. This is when the music video begins to establish a contradiction style going against the lyrics and following its own narrative rather than being tied down to following the mood of the lyrics. As a few shots pass and the students find a classroom to sneak into they nock into a computer activating a science experiment, this then turns a class hamster into a small monster including intertextuality as the monster establishes some resemblance to gremlins from the movie Gremlins. The next few shots completely change the mood of the music video as it turns into an 80's horror style with the students that were in the classroom now running away from the monsters. The dance is then interrupted with these monsters attacking all the students within sight as the band still perform their song. Following a few more shots of this, the headteacher who introduced us to the band at the beginning played b Terry Crews (an element of star power within the music video)  runs and equips himself with what looks like equipment from the movie GhostBusters (Another Intertextual element within this video) and returns to the hall to fight the monsters with the song finishing with a final shot of Terry Crews and the band grouped at the front of the hall ready to fight off the rest of the monsters. Overall this music video includes elements of both Andrew Goodwins theory in being a contradiction style video following a narrative while also including elements of Carol Vernallises' theory in the editing towards a beat and in establishing a world in which the audience cares about, as I have explained throughout the analysis while also including other memorable elements such as intertextual elements and the long introduction to help set up a narrative for the audience to follow.

Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen
When analyzing music videos I looked at Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen as an example of narrative and a performance style music video. The video opens up with a shot of the singer looking out of a window, as the shot pans in it become clear she is looking at man gardening, this first shot of the music video establishes the world in which it is set as the audience can now see what the singer's motives are within the first two seconds, this is an element of carol vernalizes theory in which she states that due to the short nature of music videos the audience has to be introduced into the world relatively quickly to help them understand what's happening, this is especially important in narrative-driven music videos like this one. Within the next few shots the director uses a shot-reverse-shot between the singer and the man in the garden, this reinforces my previous statement of the singer's motivations as this technique is used her to show interest from the singer and what she is looking at. It is at this time that the performance element of the music video comes into play as the singer is shown performing the lyrics casually as she is watching this man from afar. The next few shots in this music video follow a basic narrative of the singer watching this man while avoiding being detected. After these shots and this narrative is introduced towards the audience the video cuts towards the singer and her band in a garage performing her song to what appears to be the camera at this time. This performance and narrative style that this video blends together is briefly mentioned by Andrew Goodwin in his theory, this states that music videos follow the same few styles and can sometimes even blend together, in this case, it being performance and narrative. In between the next few shots of the band playing out of their garage the narrative continues with the singer trying to grab the mans attention through seductively washing a car, this can be seen as a spoof on Mulvey's Male Gaze theory as the singer is trying to show off her body to win over the attention of the man but its set out in a more comical way than other forms of media as she is shown in this shot falling off the car and knocking herself unconscious. When she awakens the narrative continues with her finally grabbing this man's attention and it is revealed that she as been performing to him in the garage the entire time and we are sort of watching it from his perspective. The video ends with the performance finishing and the singer going to finally write and gives him his number, with this being quite literal towards the lyrics as a part of Andrew Goodwin's theory, however, the man reveals himself as gay and the narrative ends.

Firework - Katy Perry
The song opens up with an establishing shot of a big city at night, once again setting a colour palette and mood of the song while also following Carols' theory with introducing the audience to the world the video is set in. As the music picks up the singer is shown walking out onto a balcony with a close-up shot of her dress revealing it to be very fancy, therefore informing it to be a very professional style music video. After this shot, there is a close up of the singer's face as she is singing, this shows the style of the music video to be quiet performance-based and the close up shows that the director wanted all of the attention to be on the singer, this with the dress mentioned earlier can link together to create this idea that she is the only thing the director wants you to focus on, supporting the performance-based style with the attention being on the singer and the singer only. Within the next sequence of shots, multiple narratives are revealed to the audience in a brief few second shots, this can be seen as exaggerative to the lyrics as when the singer begins to mention feeling down and under the narratives appear showing people in bad situations who are feeling this way, This style of the music video is mentioned within Andrew Goodwin's theory as an exaggerative type, in which in the video exaggerates the lyrics maybe portraying them in visuals or through narrative. The next few shots also conform to this idea as fireworks begin coming out of the singer's chest. As the video continues the narratives relive this same experience in some way, with one shot of a man being mugged revealing to have doves under his coat. This exaggerative form of a music video is shown throughout every narrative of this video. Later in this video we see a small example of editing towards a beat, as the masses of people gather on a roof you can see them all jumping towards the beat of the song with their fireworks matching, this is an element of Carol Vernallises' theory coming into play as the video gets edited around the beats of the song.

Music Video

Music Video Brief

The song I have chosen to base my music video on is Summer from the album Smoke+Mirrors by Imagine Dragons. I have chosen this song over some of my other choices mainly due to the different ways I can incorporate Goodwin's Theory into the video, with shots being quite literal towards the lyrics and quite Amplifying of the words in the song, for example one of my shot ideas being an actor opening their eyes to the lyrics "Open up your eyes"  to help create and link it to this literal correlation I mentioned. Some basic ideas I have coming into this unit are a Chinese whispers style music video, with extreme close ups on peoples faces as they whisper the lyrics into another actors ear. On top of this some other idea I have come up with are getting the actors to clap to the claps of the song and editing this in time to the beat, following Carols theory on how music videos are edited. The overall ideas I am going to be following within this music video are; introducing elements of narrative and performance style videos through the whispering of the lyrics and the overall theme of Chinese whispers to help create a basic narrative for the viewer to follow. Therefore this video will include elements of both Goodwin's and Vernalises' theories through the different styles of editing and the correlation of the lyrics and the video that I want to include.


Pre-Production/Plan
When entering pre-production for my music video I decided to properly plan out my shots and ideas to make it easier for me when filming the project, when starting off I created a simple written shot list / timeline that would help me keep track of what footage would go where, however as this idea developed I switched the idea to instead using title screens over my chosen song in Premiere Pro (my chosen choice of editing software) as it was easier to read than a long boring shot list and I thought it would help me judge what footage I would require better. When planning it out like this I gathered a better flow for my music video and a better understanding of what belonged where and when to cut shots.

During this time I could develop my idea for the music video and start filling in places on this shot list with my ideas such as wanting to use a lot of shots outside in the sunny weather to help it match with the lyrics of the chorus, with the song being about summer. At this time I knew that shots of traveling in the sun would work well with the pace of the instrumental that follows the chorus, so I decided to add that into my shot list. Another idea that I came up with at the time was the homely setting of the indoor shots, I knew that in production I would have to film somewhere that looks like a home that people live in as well as promoting warm and positive connotations to go with the rhythm and the style of the song, being very positive and rhythmic, therefore in setting this music video inside of a home and really thinking about the mine-en-scene of the background making it look like a well looked after friendly home it helped match the tone I was aiming for within the music video.

My basic shot list before I moved it onto Premiere Pro.

When planning I opened up Premiere Pro with the song in there and listed my desired shots at what time stamps I would like them at, in doing this it helped me set out my plan for the music video and gave me a better idea of the footage i would need to gather.

Finished Product

Evaluation
During this unit, I produced a music video to the song Summer by Imagine Dragons. when producing this music video I set out a plan to make it in a literal style, matching ideas presented by Andrew Goodwin in his theory. overall I believe my finished product matches this style with the video directly copying what the lyrics are saying at times, This is the element of my music video that I feel works the best and the shots that incorporate this idea, I feel work the best out of my video. Another element I tried to incorporate is within Carol Vernallises theory stating that music video often edits towards the beat of the song, and I feel like I have managed to accomplish this at times during my music video, with an example being the actors clapping to the beat and the cuts that join the different clappers together being in time with the song, In these regards, this is exactly what I was looking to create within my music video, to follow these theorists and develop a video that follows these conventions the theorists' layout within their published work.

Looking at the production of my work it is clear that not everything went to plan and I feel like this negatively affects my music video and can be seen throughout as some shots include different visual tones to others, creating this mismatched look, while also other shots sometimes lacking the warm lighting I would use in other shots. The overall effect this had on my finished product is quite negative as I personally believe it makes my product looks less professional and is the main thing I would change about this project if I could go back, with some shooting days I would not gather as much footage as I needed and in doing so it meant I had to reshoot without some of the equipment used in the first shoot. The other stage of production being the editing of the music video, overall I am pretty happy with the pacing of the shots and when I cut, with at most times there being a clear matching rhythm between the music video and the song itself, however, there is at least one point during the music video looking back at that I would cut down as I Feel the shot carries on far too long, However other than that I believe the editing process went relatively well considering my footage.

In conclusion, I believe that my finished product mimics my brief, with some changes because of my troubled production, and creates a music video that works on the ideas of the two theorists and portrays them in a faithful way, while also portraying creativity and matching the style the song creates. Looking back there are areas that I could have improved upon but I believe my music video portrays the song and my ideas in a faithful way.

Reference List

Imagine Dragons., (2015) Summer
Available from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTsbz5fW8-M

Carol Vernallis Research

Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis is a music video theorist who looks at how music videos are structured, she mentions her research into this topic in her book, The Kindest Cut- Functions and meanings of Music Video Editing 2001. The key concepts of her theory are Narrative Editing, Camera Movement/Framing, and Diegesis. During this theory, she talks about the world in which music videos create and how the lyrics correlate and tie together with the video

When looking at narrative, Carol states that there is a connection between the video and the narrative and that the video is usually portraying elements of the lyrics. She also states that due to the short nature of music videos the narrative may not always be completed and either end up being disjointed, disconnected or fragmented leaving it to the audience to connect the dots when it comes to making sense of what they have just seen. She also states that not every music video has a narrative but all show a level of progression throughout the video that the audience can follow, whether that is through the editing or the lyrics. A clear example of a narrative throughout the music video is Brother by Kodaline in which a young boy tries to come to terms with his brother's death.

When it comes to editing, Vernallis states that one of the most common conventions is the lack of continuity editing, this means there will be no clear progression of shots and that some may seem to appear out of order and or just not relevant to what the audience has already been seeing and therefore linking back to the narrative element of her theory suggesting that the lack of continuity helps build this distorted and broken narrative she mentions. This lack of continuity editing may become noticeable through the use of jump cuts, cutting in time with the beat and juxtaposing frames. Music videos use the element of cutting to the beat regularly an example of one being Turn Down For What by DJ Snake.

Vernallis talks about the different types of shots when on about framing, she explains what are some of the most commonly used shot types in typical music videos with establishing and mid-close shots appearing more common than others, "establishing shots are one of the main elements in a music video" (Vernallis, 2013), with the establishing shots occurring often due to the short duration of a music video and the need to establish a setting within this short time to help effectively tell a narrative. This links in with my next point on diegesis, with establishing shots helping the director create a world open for the audience to view. An example of key uses of establishing shots is in the song Formation by Beyonce, this song uses establishing shots to open the world to the audience showing them where the music video sets place, in this case highlighting the flooding in America.

The diegesis that Vernallis mentions during her theory is the world that the music video is set in, in her theory she states how this is revealed slowly to help the narrative develop, she also mentions that repetition may occur in when it comes to certain frames or styles of a shot. Vernallis also mentions how because music video narrative is never really finished, the audience can have a gap in understanding of the diegesis. An example of a strong diegesis within music video is within Bad Blood by Taylor Swift, this music video shows elements of a strong yet distorted diegesis as the audiences are introduced to this scifi world in which these popstars are superheroes battling each other, although all this is shown not much is explained to us leaving the audience to try and fill in the blanks.

Reference List

Carol Vernallis (2013) YouTube Music Video, and the New Digital Cinema, 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, Page 10.