Categories of Music Videos

Performance-
The music video category of performance is a simplistic visual usually using a minimal budget. Performance videos often show the artist throughout the majority, if not all, of the music video. Quite oftenly, the music video is associated with clips embedded from elsewhere.

A positive example of a Performance music video would be the song 'Hero' by 'Nickelback'. We are shown the band on a rooftop of what looks like the backstreets of New York. This song offically collates with the film 'Spiderman'. This was the official soundtrack of the Spiderman movie released in 2002. Within the music video we can see small snippets of the film, which couild act as a film promoter as well as a music video. The whole concept of the band being on top of a building in NYC would be very effective in terms of promoting the band 'Nickelback' and the film 'Spiderman'.

A performance video would often be associated with rock bands. Bands such as 'Nickelback', 'The Fray' and 'The Darkness' would show the artist throughout most of the video.

So, Why do some artists insist on showing themselves as the centre of the audience's attention?
Merely for promotional purposes, it would seem. Sometimes an artist would like to create an icon for themselves, and for people to begin to recognise members of the band, lead singer especially. It's quite clear that performance music videos are often used by bands more than solo artists. If an audience could see a band, they can relate to the lyrics and gain a positive aura. Sometimes, it would seem that to see the artist is better because the audience could potentiallly create a relation to the video and then they can pinpoint lyrics, analysing them in the process and furthermore relating it to their lives.

Performance music videos are effective due to the circumstances. Most of these are done out of choice to focus on the artist rather than effects ETC. As mentioned before, there would be more than one purpose for many performance music videos. 'Hero' By 'Nickelback' has two purposes, the video for the bands portfolio and promoter for then, upcoming movie, 'Spiderman'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zueKq3z3Sk

Narrative-
Narrative music videos are exactly what they sound like. They tell a story and tends to use actors instead of members of the band. The actions of the actors most likely would relate to the lyrics. Sometimes in a controversial song, the act would be contradictory of what the song is trying to acheive, mainly for effect.

A good example of a conventonal Narrative video would be 'The Killers' song 'When you were Young'. The location is in what looks like South America and pictures a couple and their progress of falling in and out of love. It is very effective and goes alongside the lyris, it would seem. The concept of 'He doesn't look a thing like Jesus" is traditionally what Hispanic woman set their aims for when looking for a man. So the whole setting and that lyric contradict each other effectively. The song seems powerful and the words in the song are hugely significant to the video.

Despite the music video being solely based on the actors, we see Brandon Flowes, Lead singer of 'The Killers' in certain parts of the song. This shows him in the place of a narrator, and this furthermore promotes Brandon Flowers as the icon for 'The Killers', which he well and truly is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff0oWESdmH0

Concept-
The concept music video soley focuses on one thing or idea and is mainly unusual. These videos, to be perfectly honest, are not the most appealing to all people, but there are some hugely positive and effective ones.

The one I think is the best example of a concept music video would be another 'Killers' song. 'Read my mind' sees Brandon Flowers and other members of the band, including actors going through a stream of interesting and highly unusual antics. The idea, when analysed is that it is hugely dreamlike when you see the goings-on in the music video. It is set in Tokyo, and immensly surreal when you evaluate everything going on in the video.

The dreamlike state relates to 'Read My Mind' in terms of somebody trying to pinpoint emotions of a person they are talking to and the concept of reading one's mind relates to magic and what a magician claims he/she can do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc8hbSM1zVo&ob=av3e

Goodwin's Analysis and Laura Mulvey's analysis

 Laura Mulvey's analysis
The idea of objectifying women has been challenged by the words of Laura Mulvey, a feminist who focuses on the fact women are wrongly portrayed in the media. The main portrayal of woman in Laura Mulvey's theroy would appeal greatly to a typical hetrosexual man. A scene in a movie and/or music video would focus on woman and linger on certain parts of a women's body. Mulvey comments on the negative presentation of women in film and therefore speaks of a degrading sense, regarding women.

Goodwin's analysis
'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' was an eye opener regarding the production of music videos. Andrew Goodwin identifies a number of key features to determine the music video industry as a form of media. Some points he decalred was-

• There is a key relationship between the lyrics and visuals. The visuals often analysed lyrics and illustrates them, accordingly. There is also oppurtunity to contradict the lyrics.
• The same would apply to the relationship between the audio music and visuals on screen.
• The complextion of the genres are also diverse in terms of video style and icons.
• Record companies will demand a lot of close-ups of the singer in question.
• Intertextuality would feature a lot, either promoting other music videos or to film and tv texts.

Focus Group Discussion

Questionnaire

1) In general, why do you feel you watch music videos?

2) What are your favourite genres of music?

3) What is your favourite music video?

4) Why is this your favourite music video?

5) On a scale of one to ten, how much do you enjoy videos that tell a story?

6) We are planning to create a music video for The Fray's 'You Found Me'
    that would depict a relationship and would force you to side with either of
    the characters, whilst trying to avoid clichés.

    Furthermore we would aim to leave the audience shrouded in mystery until
    the very end, does this sound like a music video you would watch, and
    why (not)?

For the first question we put to the participants of our questionnaire, the general consensus we received was that people watched music videos for the fantasy that they brought about and to escape to a fantasy world. Of course, this is one of the parts of the Uses & Gratifications Theory and therefore we will be looking to provide an element of escapism; which will make the strength of our plot and narrative imperative to the success of our music video.

Indie, Rock and R&B were the three most popular genres of music among the participants and since The Fray’s ‘You Found Me’ would be classified between Indie and Rock which means we would be tapping into a popular genre of song. Creativity, location and the mise-en-scene were the most important aspects of the participants’ favourite music videos, which will mean that our planning process will be of utmost importance and we will definitely keep these elements in mind.

The average of the scale of one to ten was exactly eight that means again our idea seems to be popular, but a more explicit gauge of this is found within the last question. As our AS Media idea was not tapping into a popular genre of film, this meant that there was a slight disadvantage before we had created our film opening but here a more popular genre may play into our hands and allow us to be more creative accordingly.

The responses to the last question were varied to say the least. The majority of respondents said that they would watch it but it would depend on the cheesiness and effect of the music video itself. In addition, two further answers questioned how they would be forced to pick a side within the depicted relationship and another answer stated it would have to be thoroughly entertaining. Therefore we will have to bear in mind its effect on the audience and to avoid clichés at all times, but the responses of our target audience have been undoubtedly positive and this data will be useful when creating the video. 

Description of Target audience

Our Target Audience:

The song that we have chosen to make our A2 Music Video for is “You Found Me” by The Fray.

We feel that the target audience for this song can vary; we have found that the song appeals to girls between the ages of 14 to 16. This is because they may be finding love for the first time and developing feelings for others in relation to love. We also feel that the song could relate to both males and females between the ages of 17 and 25. They may be university students or post graduate workers. This may even include city workers for example bankers, office workers and administrative clerks.

With this music video we are aiming to:                       

• Aid Identification
• Offer Entertainment
•  Aid Social Interaction
• Offer the opportunity of Escapism

Our target audience are likely to fall into the Social Demographic groups of E to C2 because they will be earning very little or nothing at all, although they may be well educated, they may not be able to show this due to the employment that they are in.

The genre of our song is under Independent Rock. Our target audience may listen to other bands such as:  The Killers, Snow Patrol, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, Keane, The Feeling, The Fratellis, Oasis, Radio Head and, I am Kloot.

By using Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory we have found that, through this video the most important factors within the hierarchy of needs  that we need to address are; Self-Esteem, Morality, Respect of Others and Love and Belonging.

Analysis of 3 music videos

 Whilst picking a suitable music video that catered for our groups musical interests, we had to find out genres of interest. To finalise a song to create a music video for, we had to gain a rough analysis on 3 songs similar to the song idea we had.

Creep- Radiohead- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk&ob=av2e

Radiohead simply have a similar vibe to 'The Fray' and thus to analise this Performance video would be effective. This music video simply focuses on the band in a concert setting. The simplistic setting and atmosphere allows the audience to focus on the facial expressions on the lead singers face and how the idea of a 'Creep' is portrayed in this video. The background colour is multicoloured and therefore contradicts the whole idea of being a 'Creep'. The make up and the way the band have been portrayed is effective. Essentially, this is a really simple performance based music video. This song could be seen to be linked with the taking of drugs and how it effects the mind including how paranoid a genuine user could get. Compared to some of the other 'Radiohead' videos, you could say that all of these videos can be seen as sadistic with a hint of depression.

Called out in the Dark- Snow Patrol-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwTXwJg6_VE&ob=av2n

The music video associated with this song is effective in the sense that it contains humour and a vibe of seriousness. The video pictures Gary Lightbody, lead singer of Snow Patrol, being replaced by an actor to glamourise the music video. The whole video is about trying to create the best visual for the song. This is essentially a video inside a video and producing a video to the best a company can. The idea of the lead singer being replaced by someone else could suggest a better appearenced based video and would indeed glamourise it. This would make the lead singer feel slightly insulted and this is shown in the video, in good taste. The syncronised dancing and the suit in which the lead singing double is wearing could suggest a 1950'sEsque aura. Throughout the video we see Gary trying to sneak back on set and this angers the director. Despite the humourous approach to the video, the lyrics are rather meaningfull. The whole video is trying to show how someone can steal your thunder just to make a higher power look better. Throughout, we see Gary trying to become the centre of attention and the director is growing more and more frustrated with the antics. The ending is rather surreal, Gary is handcuffed to the director and it seems they have a connection which is contradictory to the beginning.

The Roller- Beady Eye- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcOJu0g8dbw

This song is in the same style as bands such as 'Oasis' and 'Radiohead'. It was formed shortly after 'Oasis' split up and contains Liam Gallagher of the Gallagher brothers. It is situated on a motorcycle wheel often used in fairgrounds and circuses. This is a very surreal place to film a music video but does associate with the title of the song. It's a combination of a performance and a Concept. We see the band throughout with snippets of a motorcycle using the wheel. This is a very simple and effective video for 'Beady eye's ' first major step in the music industry. It really is an effective way of promoting the band. The idea of how a circus can play an important role in the video means that the song shouldn't be taken too seriously but the lyrics associated with the song are in fact rather meaningful. The main introduction of the music video shows a clear performance that is actually rather effective.

Copyright Letter

Dear Copyright Holder,

We are seeking permission to use one of your songs in our A Level music video by The Fray. This song we would like to use is ‘You Found Me’. If we are granted permission we would use your song in our A2 Media Studies music video which involves not only creating the music video, but an advert for both the album and magazine featuring the artist.

This song would only be used for education purposes and only the OCR exam board, those within my media class and my teacher would be able to view the music video itself. It would not be released for viewing by a large audience.

Both the artist and your institution would receive recognition through both the process of pre-production and during the creation of the final piece itself. A copyright notice from you would be included in our project and if this is required please let us know as soon as possible.

Yours Sincerely,

Nathan Russell
Charlie Gilbert
Jon Chace
Will Pilkington