FINAL VERSION OF OUR MUSIC VIDEO

Here is the finished version of our music video. We will be evaluating and requiring feedback shortly.

MUSIC VIDEO PERFORMANCE PITCH

The first performance set up will feature the guy dressed in a black denim shirt, black jeans and boots and black leather gloves. He's on a large stage outside, with a white background behind him as he dances. There will be close up shots, mid shots and long shots of this performance.

The second performance set up will feature the guy dressed in the same clothing as before but with a leather jacket as well. Completely similar to what he's wearing towards the end of the video in the narrative. He will be stood in the sand on the beach at night, lit only by a strong flood light in front of him. We will see the sand blow in the wind but everything behind him from his waist up will be in pitch black. This gives contrast against the first performance shot. We will film a mid shot and long shot as well as a side shot.

The final performance set up will be under a bridge in a urban looking area, graffiti on walls and eroded concrete under him. In this set up he'll be dressed in a striped jumper and jeans to contrast against the black he's wearing in every other scene. These scenes will sort of be where most of his anger and pain comes out, through his dancing and his facial expression. In this set up we will film a mid shot, a low angle mid shot as well as long shot of him dancing.

MUSIC VIDEO NARRATIVE PITCH

The video opens with a guy standing in front of a mirror in a bathroom. He's wearing a grey vest and is visibly upset he turns on the tap and washes his face, he dries himself before throwing the towel down. As he clutches the sink he turns around to see a girl behind him in his reflection, it's clear to see that he recognizes her but as he turns around she disappears. We then cut to the same girl pulling up in an underground car park, she gets out the car looks around and stands with her back up against the car, waiting. We cut back to the guy who leaves the house he was in walking down the steps before entering his car. He's now wearing a checked shirt, jeans and boots. He throws a jacket onto the back seat in an angry manor. The video then cuts back to the girl in the car park, we see writing a text which states 'I'M SORRY', she sends the text and we cut back to the guy in the car who receives the text, he reads it, throws his phone out the window before collapsing onto the steering wheel.

We then cut to the girl back in the car park she doesn't look upset she looks quite sure herself as she walks from her car around the car park. She's wearing skimpy jumper and short skirt with heels. She stands in the middle of the car park, the video cuts to eye line match shot of a car in the distance with it's headlights on, she doesn't look surprised or phased by it. The video cuts to the guy, he's in the car in the car park driving towards the girl, we see the car speed towards her from several different angles, she's not phased by this and basically calling his bluff. The car continues to get faster and faster and just as it's about to hit the girl the video cuts.

The video then cuts to a beach at night lit only by distant street lights, on the sand the guy walks up to a rock and collapses down he takes out a picture of him and the girl looking visibly upset he tears the picture before throwing it into the wind. He gets up looks behind him before walking off into the black night sea.

MUSIC VIDEO INSPIRATION

After deciding on the theme of our music video and the general tone of what we want our performance and narrative we looked at some more existing music videos to give us some inspiration and ideas about challenging codes and conventions of our genre.

"Russian Roulette"
Rihanna

2009

What I really like about this music video is the way the narrative flows with the performance it doesn't tell a story as such it just has several different scenarios which relate to the song and show emotional development within the character. The whole video is very dark and almost morbid, especially the lighting in the video which gives the video a haunting feel. A scene which I find really striking is the narrative on the last chorus where the car is zooming towards her, I think it's very effective and could work well in our music video with our own interpretation on the scene.

"Fight For This Love"
Cheryl Cole
2009

This is a very good music video example to focus on performance. In this video it is all performance based and even though that's not what ours, in this video you've got a dance routine and several different solo set ups where Cheryl is miming the words. As the performance in this clip is quite strong, we will be looking at the performance techniques that she uses and incorporate them into our video.

INITIAL VIDEO IDEAS

As you can see from the post below, we want our video to have a very dark and serious nature, like in the What Goes Around video, something completely unexpected but still in relation to the song. We will film a large section of the narrative at night and in urban areas to keep to the raw drum beat of the song. As well as this we have also decided to keep the characters in the video to just two, as we want to keep as much focus on them as possible. Accompanying this we want to aim to have three different performance shots which will feature a variety of different shot types, some will bear a resemblance to the narrative shots but others will also be varied.

Our next step will be to gather inspiration from other videos, different to the ones we have analysed.

MUSIC VIDEO CODES & CONVENTIONS

After an in depth analysis of music videos by Pop/R&B artists, I have drawn to some conclusions about the codes and conventions of this genre.

All the music videos that I analysed followed the generic conventions by the portrayal of women in the work. They are presented as sexual icons from the revealing clothing to the way they perform in a suggestive manner. Noticeably in all the videos women are involved in a situation with a man most of the time, their actions are centred around a man. Whether it may be from Britney's quest for revenge on a man or Madonna's saving the world in four minutes with Justin. Then there is the vulnerable state of the female lead in the 'What Goes Around' video how she may be painted out as the villain but she is still very much seen as scared and nervous almost like a child. What I aim to achieve in my music video is to break this convention by presenting the woman as strong and bold to the point where she is on the same level as the man.

When it came to the portrayal of men within the music videos that I analysed, in every single one they were seen chatting up women, undressing women and getting involved with women. A very traditional representation of men, most of the time they are completely in control of the situation and even when they aren't they're rarely phased by it at all.

The range of shot types that have been used in the majority of the music videos that I've analysed consisted of mid-shots and close up shots of the artist, especially in performance. This backs up Goodwin's theory about music videos. There's also a large amount of performance in each video, it's sort of the structure of the video the base and everything after comes together. For example in 'Womanizer' the scenes with Britney performing in the sauna can be seen throughout the whole video, the same goes for '4 Minutes' and the scenes in front of the counter. The videos are edited and cut from scene to scene at a very fast pace, especially within the videos that feature heavy amounts of performance. The lighting in each video obviously is catered to fit the mood of the actual song, however, in each video everything's glossy bright and bold when it comes to the portrayal of the artist.

The location in each of the music videos changes in each one. For instance in 'The Way You Make Me Feel' it is set in a street, a very urban setting. I believe this is meant to add some level of credibility to the artist, for them to appeal to their audience more. Then in other cases like in 'What Goes Around' you've Timberlake in a lavish apartment, a big club, driving expensive cars. When it comes to our music video I think it will be easier and better if we focus the location in a urban area, simply because we have easier access.

MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS

I will now analyse some existing music videos, with a brief idea of what ours will be like we have chosen the music videos which best represent our genre and challenge and explore the codes and conventions. They are all Pop videos, dabbling in electro and R&B.

"4 Minutes"
Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake 
2008
Director: Jonas & Francois

In this video Madonna and Justin Timberlake are seen running around different sets of day to day situations, from a living room, to a used car garage, to a supermarket to an office toilet. As they make their way through the sets behind them is a black line which is sort of dissolving everything in them, I think it's supposed to be a metaphor for time as the song is called '4 Minutes to Save The World'. Accompanying this is numerous performance shots in front of a time counting down from 4 minutes. This backs up Goodwin's theory about a relationship between the music and the visuals.

The first shot you see is of Timbaland stood in front of a giant screen mouthing the words to the song, Madonna and Justin quickly follow to also perform in front of the screen. This is an example of intertextuality and screens within screens another one of Goodwin's theories. The majority of performance shots are close up and mid shots of Justin and Madonna accompanied with a few long shots to show that they're dancing.



Both artists in video are represented as very important people from the narrative shots of them running on top of the cars, what's also important to mention is that despite the fact they're important people, when they're running around every day life they're being ignored by the extras in the video, I feel this is done to keep the focus on them.


What is also noting is the level of dancing in the video, at the start Madonna challenges the codes and conventions of women in music videos, she's pushing the car and running around on top of tables and cars. However during the rest of the video, she performs some very sexual moves and has Justin undress her in the music video, she also undresses him but there is more emphasis on her as she is almost naked by the end of the video. This backs up Goodwin's theory that women are presented as a sexual object in music videos.


The fast paced editing is what I really find captivating within this video. No shot lasts more than a few seconds at most and I feel it really gives the video pace and gives the music and video a level of suspense. I think this could really work in our music video, therefore I will be making sure that we have a large variety of shots to choose from and edit together.


"Womanizer"
Britney Spears
2008
Director: Joseph Kahn

In this video, Britney Spears thinks that her boyfriend is cheating on her. She goes undercover in a series of disguises to confirm what she suspects. Accompanying this is not only performance within the narrative of the story but a performance section in a sauna.

The video begins with Britney dancing in a sauna, she's posing on a bench and is naked. This is represents her as a very provocative woman and once again backs up Goodwin's theory that women are displayed as sexual objects in music videos. She then serves breakfast to her boyfriend who barely looks up from his paper. This is a very traditional representation of the relationship between men and women. Throughout the video we see her in her different disguises, kick her boyfriend in an office chair, slam him against a photocopier and pinning him down in the back of a limousine. This challenges the codes and conventions of women in music videos by the end of the video she is in complete control. The roles of Britney and her boyfriend have reversed.

Once again in this video the editing is very quick to go with the quick tempo of the song. The fact that this video is predominantly narrative means that we will focus a lot on this one when planning our production.

"The Way You Make Me Feel"
Michael Jackson
1987
Director: Joe Pytka

Despite this video being from 1987, I think it's relevant as Michael Jackson is one of the biggest inspirations of many artists today. In the video Michael tries to impress a girl, dancing in front of her, throughout the video she acts completely uninterested and just carries on walking down the street. However throughout the video he slowly wins her over.

In the video it's a very traditional relationship between men and women, htis seems to be a common pattern within the videos that are by male artists. The shots are very long to go with the story as this the first music video that is based on one set. Most of the shots used are long shots which zoom in to become mid shots the camera as tracks along the street and tilts to keep up with the action. There are also some mid shots of Michael when he is miming key parts of the song.

The women once again is portrayed in a very traditional way, she's simply another object of a man's desire and this seems to be her only purpose in the video. She might act unimpressed but there's still a very happy ending.

"What Goes Around... Comes Around"

Justin Timberlake
2007
Director: Samuel Bayer

In this video by Justin Timberlake, he meets a girl at a club she acts uninterested before they both leave. The next scene they're together in bed before she leaves and jumps in a swimming pool, he jumps and saves her. This is a very traditional representation of the relationship of men and women, the typical cliche man saving the woman. The next sceen they are sat with some friends drinking. What's also apparent in this music video is the cuts between the music for scripted dialogue. The narrative of the video is almost separate to the performance shots. The performance shots in the video mainly consist of Justin stood on a stage performing casually, in just vest and shirt, it's very informal. The costume for most of the video is predominantly quite dark and plain. After a large section of performance, Justin discovers one of his friends kissing his girlfriend. A small fight occurs before she runs away and drives off. He chases after her before she crashes for the audience to see that she's dead. 

The narrative in the video proves to be controversial and deals with a dramatic storyline which ultimately goes well with the song. What I also like in this video is that it challanges the codes and conventions of a pop video, due to the fact that his love interest in the video dies. It's unexpected, shocking and leaves you on the edge of your seat throughout. Despite the fact Justin is surrounded by fast sport cars, a beautiful girl and lavish parties which portray what his lifestyle is like, there is a strong sense of dark undertone to the video. It's set at night and the lighting gives it a cold, hollow feel. This might be because the director Samuel Bayer traditionally directs videos for rock artists.

There are also many interesting aspects to the camera work in the video, it's almost filmed like a proper film. There's lots of match on action, focus pulls and handheld camera work, this gives it a sense of reality, something I think could be very effective within the narrative in our music video.