Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri
I know I can't take one more step towards you
Cause all that's waiting is regret
And don't you know I'm not your ghost anymore?
You lost the love I loved the most
I learned to live, half alive
And now you want me one more time
And who do you think you are?
Runnin' 'round leaving scars
Collecting your jar of hearts
And tearing love apart
You're gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
So don't come back for me
Who do you think you are?
I hear you're asking all around
If I am anywhere to be found
I have grown too strong
To ever fall back in your arms
I've learned to live, half-alive
Now you want me one more time
Who do you think you are?
Runnin' 'round leaving scars
Collecting your jar of hearts
And tearing love apart
You're gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
So don't come back for me
Who do you think you are?
Dear, it took so long
Just to feel alright
Remember how to put back
The light in my eyes
I wish I had missed
The first time that we kissed
Cause you broke all your promises
And now you're back you don't get to get me back
Who do you think you are?
Runnin' 'round leaving scars
Collecting your jar of hearts
And tearing love apart
You're gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
So don't come back for me
Don't come back at all
And who do you think you are?
Runnin' 'round leaving scars
Collecting your jar of hearts
And tearing love apart
You're gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
Don't come back for me
Don't come back at all
Who do you think you are?
Who do you think you are?
Who do you think you are?
The song itself was written about a previous man who was her husband that then broke her heart. The lyrics are very personal to the artist as they explore a great change in her life.
The only possible meaning for the lyrics that I can see is that she wants to forget about the heartbreak that her man has caused her even though he is desperately looking for forgiveness. He has clearly caused her a lot of pain in which she has learned to move on from. The lyrics are very emotive and deep, for example "You're gonna catch a cold from the ice inside your soul" is very powerful for the artist to use as she describes her emotion of pain and betrayal.
The song and lyrics couldn’t be any more different than our previous song choice which consisted of disjointed lyrics. This song’s lyrics are very synchronous to the story its telling which we found made it more exciting to produce a video to as we felt we could tell the story of what the heartbroken person was feeling, we decided to do this by using the letter as the key protagonist in our story which is a unusual convention for a music video.
Friday, 30 December 2011
New artist research
Due to the fact we have changed songs and artist, I have decided to research further into Christina Perri and the song “Jar of Hearts”.
Christina Judith Perri (born August 19, 1986)
• She is a self taught musician who learnt how to play guitar as a 16 year old watching a video by Shannon Hoon from the group Blind Melon, who were performing on VH1.
• She moved to LA on her 21st birthday where she later got married and began to produce music videos. Later that year she got divorced and moved back home where she later wrote “Jar of Hearts” the song we are using in order to produce our music video.
• “Jar of Hearts” has been used on a number of TV and reality shows, an example of this would be “So You Think You Can Dance?” following its exposure on the show “Jar of Hearts” sold 48,000 digital copies, it later reached #28 on the Billboards Hot Digital Songs. Within a month it sold more than 100,000 copies, then the music video landed and the song hit peak popularity.
Christina Judith Perri (born August 19, 1986)
• She is a self taught musician who learnt how to play guitar as a 16 year old watching a video by Shannon Hoon from the group Blind Melon, who were performing on VH1.
• She moved to LA on her 21st birthday where she later got married and began to produce music videos. Later that year she got divorced and moved back home where she later wrote “Jar of Hearts” the song we are using in order to produce our music video.
• “Jar of Hearts” has been used on a number of TV and reality shows, an example of this would be “So You Think You Can Dance?” following its exposure on the show “Jar of Hearts” sold 48,000 digital copies, it later reached #28 on the Billboards Hot Digital Songs. Within a month it sold more than 100,000 copies, then the music video landed and the song hit peak popularity.
Thursday, 29 December 2011
Changes to our video and narrative
After a lot of debate amongst our group we have decided to scrap our first music video attempt and begin a new one totally from new, we are going to change artists from MGMT-KIDS to CHRISTINA PERRI - JAR OF HEARTS. We have made this decision because after we finished filming the "Kids" video we then put all the raw footage on the Macs and began editing, once we had time lined everything the effects and meaning we desired wasn’t present. We attempted the split screen effect in order to show both characters on the screen at the same time but due to the framing of the shots it wasn’t possible to have the Doug the business man on the right (the right side of life) and Dougie the drug abuser on the left, the only way that was possible to do it was to have a little box on the top left and a little one on the bottom right but both boxes were small and surrounded by black therefore the video lost all kinds of effects. We considered removing the split screen parts but then the video didn’t link together as well as it didn’t allow us to show the lives of both characters properly. We also noticed on the larger screen that some of our mise-en-scene didn’t actually fit, for instance it looked very staged as we had attempted to make the drug users house untidy and cluttered which proved difficult with very little props available to mess up the area. Similarly on some of the drug user’s shots there were photographs present in the background of horses and animals, something that we didn’t notice during filming but we couldn’t leave there as they didn’t fit in with his lifestyle at all. After considering and watching everything through we realised we had a lot of footage we needed to re-film, but proved difficult because our actor is in school himself we could only film at weekends where two group members had to work around weekend jobs.
A combination of these issues made us reconsider what kind of video we wanted to produce, we debated changing songs to "Fireflies" by "Owl City" and still keeping the same theme of childhood throughout, but we couldn’t decide on a strong enough narrative and storyline to produce the video to. In the end we went home for the weekend and i heard a song on the internet, "Jar of Hearts" and started brainstorming idea types that would go with such a slow paced love song. On Monday we all choose our favourite idea and formed a new narrative which involves a boy trying to win a girl back. We thought that our new video allowed us the best chance to integrate many challenging shots and get the highest grade possible.
Our new video focuses on the theme of betrayal and heartbreak, compared to our old video which focused on the idea of childhood and postmodernism. Our new narrative relates more to our desired target audience, as heartache is an experienced feeling amongst the majority of young adults, therefore they can relate much easier to the video. On the other hand if they haven’t experienced it they can still understand the meaning through the emotions associated with the video.
Our video begins with a flashback sequence between a male and female character, the scene will show them hugging and holding hands in a field. The use of a flashback helps to establish and depict the happy times their relationship. The flashback sequence is very cliché, but we wanted it this way to emphasise how happy the couple used to be. We decided to use an emotive voice over alongside the piano version of ‘Jar of Hearts’ during the flashback scene. Rihanna’s video for ‘We Found Love’
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg00YEETFzg&ob=av3e) ihe video inspired us to do this.
This is what our voice over reads, (quoted from Marilyn Monroe)
"I believe that everything happens for a reason.
People change so that you can learn to let go.
Things go wrong so that you can appreciate them when they're right.
You believe lies so that you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself.
Sometimes things fall apart so that better things can all fall together."
We thought that this quote would be suitable alongside our video as it highlights the girl’s feelings at the current time. Also it would enable the audience to fully recognise that the relationship between the two is tough and not as happy as it once was. I think that we showed the audience this through the synchronous music and the visual aspect.
After we see the boy writing a love letter, after a number of failed attempts he screws up the final one and texts her saying “I love you.” This is an inconsiderate and modern way to remind her of his feelings. The letter then opens itself up and begins its journey crawling down the desk and then the stairs into the kitchen where it climbs up the fridge and follows the girl into a photograph of her in the park which then becomes a moving image.
The video shows the girl in a number of varied locations, they are all isolated. We will integrate these shots with the movement of the letter to show both their journeys at the same time. Near the end of our video we will show the letter crawling into the back of a car in which it travels to some cliffs, the girl will be sitting on a rock edge when the letter will crawl up to her, she then reads it and throws it over the edge. The video ends with the girl walking towards the edge of a cliff then it fades to black. We want to end our video on a cliff hanger so it leaves the audience wondering ‘what next?’
Overall i think that changing our video was the best decision that we made as a group.
A combination of these issues made us reconsider what kind of video we wanted to produce, we debated changing songs to "Fireflies" by "Owl City" and still keeping the same theme of childhood throughout, but we couldn’t decide on a strong enough narrative and storyline to produce the video to. In the end we went home for the weekend and i heard a song on the internet, "Jar of Hearts" and started brainstorming idea types that would go with such a slow paced love song. On Monday we all choose our favourite idea and formed a new narrative which involves a boy trying to win a girl back. We thought that our new video allowed us the best chance to integrate many challenging shots and get the highest grade possible.
Our new video focuses on the theme of betrayal and heartbreak, compared to our old video which focused on the idea of childhood and postmodernism. Our new narrative relates more to our desired target audience, as heartache is an experienced feeling amongst the majority of young adults, therefore they can relate much easier to the video. On the other hand if they haven’t experienced it they can still understand the meaning through the emotions associated with the video.
Our video begins with a flashback sequence between a male and female character, the scene will show them hugging and holding hands in a field. The use of a flashback helps to establish and depict the happy times their relationship. The flashback sequence is very cliché, but we wanted it this way to emphasise how happy the couple used to be. We decided to use an emotive voice over alongside the piano version of ‘Jar of Hearts’ during the flashback scene. Rihanna’s video for ‘We Found Love’
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg00YEETFzg&ob=av3e) ihe video inspired us to do this.
This is what our voice over reads, (quoted from Marilyn Monroe)
"I believe that everything happens for a reason.
People change so that you can learn to let go.
Things go wrong so that you can appreciate them when they're right.
You believe lies so that you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself.
Sometimes things fall apart so that better things can all fall together."
We thought that this quote would be suitable alongside our video as it highlights the girl’s feelings at the current time. Also it would enable the audience to fully recognise that the relationship between the two is tough and not as happy as it once was. I think that we showed the audience this through the synchronous music and the visual aspect.
After we see the boy writing a love letter, after a number of failed attempts he screws up the final one and texts her saying “I love you.” This is an inconsiderate and modern way to remind her of his feelings. The letter then opens itself up and begins its journey crawling down the desk and then the stairs into the kitchen where it climbs up the fridge and follows the girl into a photograph of her in the park which then becomes a moving image.
The video shows the girl in a number of varied locations, they are all isolated. We will integrate these shots with the movement of the letter to show both their journeys at the same time. Near the end of our video we will show the letter crawling into the back of a car in which it travels to some cliffs, the girl will be sitting on a rock edge when the letter will crawl up to her, she then reads it and throws it over the edge. The video ends with the girl walking towards the edge of a cliff then it fades to black. We want to end our video on a cliff hanger so it leaves the audience wondering ‘what next?’
Overall i think that changing our video was the best decision that we made as a group.
Thursday, 22 December 2011
Filming diary part 2
Today we filmed all of Dougies scenes, this proved difficult and very time consuming as we faced a number of problems, one of which was the framing of the shots, we needed them to be exactly the same as the previous business man’s shots in order to have the desired effect we wanted but this was hard as it was done on two separate days. Similarly we struggled with the mise-en-scene of the drug user as in our minds we imagined him in a certain way and trying to portray this image to the audience proved difficult.
First of all we shot the drug users outside scenes, this consisted of him stumbling down various streets after finding a teddy bear, a key element to childhood in the story as it brings back visions of his childhood. He then runs out into the road and almost gets hit by his doppelganger that then gets out the car and the final shot is then both staring at each other. After the outside scenes we shot Dougie entering his house and stumbling over a briefcase, and then when he looks around its gone, this is meant to represent the aspirations he once had. We filmed these using shots such as high angle and floor level shots in order to show the audience the meaning behind the briefcase. We hope that the shots we have chosen are clear to the viewer that the briefcase is imaginary and therefore part of his drug daze.
We were planning on beginning the still photography for the stop motion today but time moved faster than anticipated therefore we have decided to take what we have filmed so far and put it on the Macs and then edit and see if we have to redo any shots we have taken as we want the highest grade possible that we can achieve.
First of all we shot the drug users outside scenes, this consisted of him stumbling down various streets after finding a teddy bear, a key element to childhood in the story as it brings back visions of his childhood. He then runs out into the road and almost gets hit by his doppelganger that then gets out the car and the final shot is then both staring at each other. After the outside scenes we shot Dougie entering his house and stumbling over a briefcase, and then when he looks around its gone, this is meant to represent the aspirations he once had. We filmed these using shots such as high angle and floor level shots in order to show the audience the meaning behind the briefcase. We hope that the shots we have chosen are clear to the viewer that the briefcase is imaginary and therefore part of his drug daze.
We were planning on beginning the still photography for the stop motion today but time moved faster than anticipated therefore we have decided to take what we have filmed so far and put it on the Macs and then edit and see if we have to redo any shots we have taken as we want the highest grade possible that we can achieve.
Filming diary part 1
Today we filmed all the business man’s scenes; we started filming at around 10:30am until 4pm. We started at the end of the video and worked our way to the start, this meant that we filmed the car scenes and street scenes first. We had many difficulties whilst filming the final car scenes so we attempted a variety of different camera shots and angles but none enabled us to have the desired effect that we imagined. In the end we decided we would find a quiet street and one of us would be a marshal, then we drove the car down towards the person with the camera at a slow speed who then jumped out the way, we acknowledged this could be dangerous but that’s why we shot it slowly, this allowed us to have the effect we wanted. We then shot the business man entering and beginning his journey, this obviously had to be shot with great consideration as the actual actor is only 13 years old so can’t actually drive, therefore certain shots were important to make it look as if he was the actual driver of the vehicle. We then shot the business man entering his house which is one of the first camera shots we will actually see in the video, then we shot quick shots of him living out his life, doing everyday activities such as brushing his teeth, shaving, interacting with his girlfriend, and playing Xbox, this could be seen as a signifier for post modernism as he is using computer games to pass his time showing his a consumer, this is also supported by the suit he is wearing. The final shot we did today was Doug sitting at the table doing his business work and his girlfriend walks in and hugs him, this will show his a social being and has daily interaction with others around him, this demonstrates the positivity in his life that we want to represent to the audience.
Student feedback
Secondly we received some basic feedback from our fellow media students, we pitched our idea to another group and they gave us feedback. The group that we showed it to had a very positive response to our idea which we were very happy about. Sam said: "we have clear research of the lyrics and themes" this helped to boost our confidence as its very important that our audience members understand what we are trying to portray without us having to explain it to them in great detail. Luke said "It’s really good how we have taken our project from AS and expanded on some of the effects and ideas we had for our thriller opening" this made us consider back to the previous year where we carefully choose our mise-en-scene in order to make the girl look as student like as possible without it looking fake.
We have considered the same factors for our music video as mise-en-scene is playing a huge role on interpretation for our audience. Josh said "The song choice brings out the emotion of life" This is exactly what we as a group were hoping for, we want the audience to be able to depict the highs and lows of life and what paths we have offered to us that we must choose as individuals to follow. We plan on showing this in our video, by using the same actor to play both roles we are clearly portraying the two paths of life this male got offered and the video is the play out of both of them.
The only negative feedback we received off the other group was that we needed to expand our shot types, which we already knew due to the teacher’s feedback but because two separate groups of people had suggested it to us; we are undoubtedly going to change our shots and make them more complex. Also the final piece of feedback we received was when Luke asked if our idea was a little too complex. After we thought about it, each individual in the group can see the video their own way inside their head so all we can do is shoot the video, begin the editing stage and hope that we get the meaning we want across to our audience. The only way we will know if the idea is to ambitious is to actually give it ago.
We have considered the same factors for our music video as mise-en-scene is playing a huge role on interpretation for our audience. Josh said "The song choice brings out the emotion of life" This is exactly what we as a group were hoping for, we want the audience to be able to depict the highs and lows of life and what paths we have offered to us that we must choose as individuals to follow. We plan on showing this in our video, by using the same actor to play both roles we are clearly portraying the two paths of life this male got offered and the video is the play out of both of them.
The only negative feedback we received off the other group was that we needed to expand our shot types, which we already knew due to the teacher’s feedback but because two separate groups of people had suggested it to us; we are undoubtedly going to change our shots and make them more complex. Also the final piece of feedback we received was when Luke asked if our idea was a little too complex. After we thought about it, each individual in the group can see the video their own way inside their head so all we can do is shoot the video, begin the editing stage and hope that we get the meaning we want across to our audience. The only way we will know if the idea is to ambitious is to actually give it ago.
Teacher feedback
The first lot of feedback we have received was from our teacher, they both gave us positive feedback about our idea and one said we have a lot of "very abstract ideas which are synchronous with the lyrics". Another positive comment we received was "I can't wait to see the stop motion and psychedelic outlook". Both teachers gave us pointers and encouragement in order to create a product to the absolute best of our ability. They gave us pointers on how to get into the top section of the mark scheme, for example we need to frame a shot appropriately and hold a shot steady where appropriate.
The most helpful advice we received was the importance of using editing so that the meaning is apparent to the viewer, we will need to rely heavily on editing to portray our meaning of lifestyle to the audience. Overall both teachers seemed to understand and like our idea for the video, they seemed to like how teenagers will actually be able to relate to the video.
Finally the teachers mentioned the importance of the mise-en-scene, they made us realise how appropriate it all has to be so our meaning is emphasised. Our targets as a group were to look into the copyright of the cartoon clips that we are going to insert into our video, we did research into who the cartoons belonged to, we obviously should have written and asked permission to use the clips but as they are all from the USA this would have been time consuming. I did find an email address in which i emailed yet i am still waiting for a response. Another target was to use more varied shot composition such as graphic match or match on action in order to make sure we get the highest grade possible. We took all our targets positively and have now added more varied shots and camera angles than we had before. These changes to the shots will be essential in order to portray our meaning across, because an extreme close up can show the audience a lot more than a close up can. Once question that really made us stop and think was: are you sure you’re not being too ambitious? We have taken this question into account and as a group we have decided to give the filming process of our video a strong attempt and hopefully we will be able to film it and allow the meaning to be clear to the audience.
The most helpful advice we received was the importance of using editing so that the meaning is apparent to the viewer, we will need to rely heavily on editing to portray our meaning of lifestyle to the audience. Overall both teachers seemed to understand and like our idea for the video, they seemed to like how teenagers will actually be able to relate to the video.
Finally the teachers mentioned the importance of the mise-en-scene, they made us realise how appropriate it all has to be so our meaning is emphasised. Our targets as a group were to look into the copyright of the cartoon clips that we are going to insert into our video, we did research into who the cartoons belonged to, we obviously should have written and asked permission to use the clips but as they are all from the USA this would have been time consuming. I did find an email address in which i emailed yet i am still waiting for a response. Another target was to use more varied shot composition such as graphic match or match on action in order to make sure we get the highest grade possible. We took all our targets positively and have now added more varied shots and camera angles than we had before. These changes to the shots will be essential in order to portray our meaning across, because an extreme close up can show the audience a lot more than a close up can. Once question that really made us stop and think was: are you sure you’re not being too ambitious? We have taken this question into account and as a group we have decided to give the filming process of our video a strong attempt and hopefully we will be able to film it and allow the meaning to be clear to the audience.
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Friday, 28 October 2011
Locations
The main themes in our video are drug use, psychedelics, life and hallucinations, we wanted these themes to be clear to the audience therefore when we went location searching we decided that the best location to use for the majority of the video would be inside one of our houses as the video consists of portraying the lives of two people, so the home environment fit perfectly. We also found some isolated streets which were suitable for the outside shots as they were quiet and isolated so it enabled us to create the perfect atmosphere.
Another idea we considered to do was a contrasting shot of the protagonist walking out of two different houses, both characters being the same person yet existing in different ways, therefore giving a certain image to the viewers. We decided against this as it may have lost us the effect we desired, so in the end we decided to show the two different life paths by using two contrasting outfits and mise en scene to show their separate lifestyles.
Another idea we considered to do was a contrasting shot of the protagonist walking out of two different houses, both characters being the same person yet existing in different ways, therefore giving a certain image to the viewers. We decided against this as it may have lost us the effect we desired, so in the end we decided to show the two different life paths by using two contrasting outfits and mise en scene to show their separate lifestyles.
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Our Storyline
Our storyline
Basically we are creating a psychedelic indie music video, we have chosen the song "Kids" therefore we want the main focus of the video to be about childhood. We decided to show the lives of two people, one who has been successful and made the right choices in life and the other who has taken the wrong path and suffers from substance abuse. We want to emphasis to the audience the importance of childhood in the music video and how we believe that a bad childhood is the cause of our character in the wrong. We want to show the contrast between the characters and also make the video belong to the psychedelic genre. We chose to have a male child play both roles, the sophisticated and the lower class man, this again links back to the importance of childhood, we also thought it would emphasis our videos meaning more to the audience if a child actually plays the role, it could be seen as the two choices he has for his future.
Additionally we had our actor in our video, Liam wear different outfits for each character, for the middle class guy he is wearing a blue business shirt and tie with black trousers and shoes, this shows his power and sophistication, in contrast to the other character who we decided to make up very stereotypically. We dressed him in tracksuit bottoms, a simple black t-shirt and sport trainers; we also put dark makeup under his eyes to show the lack of sleep the character is suffering from due to his problems.
In the video both characters live out a normal day in their life, the normal guy comes home from work, gets a healthy snack, does some file work, relaxes with his girlfriend and then goes to bed. On the other hand the drug user stumbles in, gets some alcohol, passes out at the kitchen table where he then begins to hallucinate, he then wakes up and stumbles again to the bathroom to vomit and then onto the street. At this time the normal guy is getting into his car and beginning his travel to work, the other character begins to have a breakdown and then finds a teddy on the pavement; this is a semiotic for everything he has lost. He then runs into the road and straight in front of the normal guy’s car. They then walk to each other and stare directly at one another whilst deep breathing.
We have decided to add stop motion to our video; we will do this whilst the drug user is hallucinating in the kitchen. We will use lego and random household items to create the full child like effect.
Basically we are creating a psychedelic indie music video, we have chosen the song "Kids" therefore we want the main focus of the video to be about childhood. We decided to show the lives of two people, one who has been successful and made the right choices in life and the other who has taken the wrong path and suffers from substance abuse. We want to emphasis to the audience the importance of childhood in the music video and how we believe that a bad childhood is the cause of our character in the wrong. We want to show the contrast between the characters and also make the video belong to the psychedelic genre. We chose to have a male child play both roles, the sophisticated and the lower class man, this again links back to the importance of childhood, we also thought it would emphasis our videos meaning more to the audience if a child actually plays the role, it could be seen as the two choices he has for his future.
Additionally we had our actor in our video, Liam wear different outfits for each character, for the middle class guy he is wearing a blue business shirt and tie with black trousers and shoes, this shows his power and sophistication, in contrast to the other character who we decided to make up very stereotypically. We dressed him in tracksuit bottoms, a simple black t-shirt and sport trainers; we also put dark makeup under his eyes to show the lack of sleep the character is suffering from due to his problems.
In the video both characters live out a normal day in their life, the normal guy comes home from work, gets a healthy snack, does some file work, relaxes with his girlfriend and then goes to bed. On the other hand the drug user stumbles in, gets some alcohol, passes out at the kitchen table where he then begins to hallucinate, he then wakes up and stumbles again to the bathroom to vomit and then onto the street. At this time the normal guy is getting into his car and beginning his travel to work, the other character begins to have a breakdown and then finds a teddy on the pavement; this is a semiotic for everything he has lost. He then runs into the road and straight in front of the normal guy’s car. They then walk to each other and stare directly at one another whilst deep breathing.
We have decided to add stop motion to our video; we will do this whilst the drug user is hallucinating in the kitchen. We will use lego and random household items to create the full child like effect.
Our ideas
It's hard when you are time pressured to conjure up ideas for your video, especially when you’re working in a group where every individual has thoughts and opinions. Luckily, our group was on the same trail of thought as we considered different narratives. I think the narrative was the hardest to fit to our song. In the end, as a group we decided to not have a narrative may help us in the long term, it also enabled us to keep the video abstruse. The prezi below outlines our first ideas and the process my group has been through.
Relating music conventions to a music video
A narrative is the way a story is told so that the elements are structured so it makes sense to the audience.
Todorov believed that narrative is structured by five different stages.
In the music video "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias there is clear evidence of Todorov's theory.
During the disequilibrium the lighting has a much darker tone, to show the drastic change in atmosphere as their lives change from good to bad. The close up shots on the necklace is a symbol of the love they share, it could also represent a dangling cause as there is no way to escape the gang, therefore as an audience member you no somthing bad is going to happen.
There are alot of close up shots in the recognition scenes of both heroes and of the villains, this enables the audience to clearly see the talk between them and the pain on the faces of the heroes at they face death.
During the reparation the heroes are dressed in white, which emphasises to the audience their innocence and purity, this is a massive contrast with the villians as they are dressed in typical black suits which could represent their darkess, also the mise-en-scene, such as the money and the smoking are typical conventions of strong, powerful men.
During the new equilibrium the wide shots show the audience the darkness and rain that surrounds Enrique as he dies, we see lots of close up shots of the girls face, again emphasising her sad emotions.
Enrique is usually shot in centre frame which emphasises his importance in the narrative to the audience, they will then feel more empathy for him.
Todorov believed that narrative is structured by five different stages.
- Equilibrium
- Disequilibrium
- Recognition
- Reparation
- New equilibrium
- There will be a hero
- They will overcome a villain
- They will then gain a reward, often a princess.
- One side is represented as the "right" side
- Usually two opposite characters are set against each other, for example a jock and a nerd.
In the music video "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias there is clear evidence of Todorov's theory.
- Equilibrium - Enrique and the girl are really happy together.
- Disequilibrium - The gang of men following them eventually catch up and they are attacked
- Recognition - Enrique knows the gang are not going to let them go.
- Reparation - He begins to fight against them.
- New equilibrium - Enrique dies but he knows that the girl is safe from harm.
During the disequilibrium the lighting has a much darker tone, to show the drastic change in atmosphere as their lives change from good to bad. The close up shots on the necklace is a symbol of the love they share, it could also represent a dangling cause as there is no way to escape the gang, therefore as an audience member you no somthing bad is going to happen.
There are alot of close up shots in the recognition scenes of both heroes and of the villains, this enables the audience to clearly see the talk between them and the pain on the faces of the heroes at they face death.
During the reparation the heroes are dressed in white, which emphasises to the audience their innocence and purity, this is a massive contrast with the villians as they are dressed in typical black suits which could represent their darkess, also the mise-en-scene, such as the money and the smoking are typical conventions of strong, powerful men.
During the new equilibrium the wide shots show the audience the darkness and rain that surrounds Enrique as he dies, we see lots of close up shots of the girls face, again emphasising her sad emotions.
Enrique is usually shot in centre frame which emphasises his importance in the narrative to the audience, they will then feel more empathy for him.
Music video conventions part 3
Camera works
Music videos tend to consist of many long, mid and close up shots, in order to create emphasis on the artist, location or emotion. Close up shots are used to show the emotion clearly to the audience and to reflect the words of the song with the movement of the artists lips, to show a connection between the two. The camera is often used to follow the artist; this is usually done by pans, tilts, tracking and crane shots.
Usually crane shots are used when there is usage of stages in order to catcher every movement on stage of the artist. They can also be used to emphasis the number of fans a band has by tracking over the top of the audience showing a vast number of people. An example of this would be in "Planetary Go" by My Chemical Romance, the video consists of the band performing live on stage where crane shots are used over the audience to show the vast number. Similarly in the video there is a lot of low angle close up shots on the lead singer "Gerard Way" as if he has the most power in the clip.
Low angle, close up shot with a blurred effect.
Mise-En-Scene
All music videos contain mise-en-scene suitable for the genre and song type, such as if it’s a performance style video like the "Planetary Go" one there would be instruments, stage equipments and lighting visible in the shot, to emphasis the fact the band are performing live. In the R&B video "Mad" by Neyo, the mise-en-scene involves him walking down a road alone and being in an isolated room. This is a reflection of the isolation from his lover. Also the dark hats and clothes represent the dark mood of the song. It's shot in black and white, this connotes the depressive mood. Props are vital to create significance on a particular person.
Sound
Some video producers decide to add diegetic sounds at the beginning and ending of music videos, these are scenes without any music to explain what is going on, and to start of finish the narrative. Also sometimes in music videos there are changes in the levels of sounds at certain times in the song, this could be for effect, narrative reasons or just to suit what is happening.
Editing
In music videos the editing process takes the longest, it's also the most crucial part. This is because the lip synching needs to be synchronous with the lyrics in order for the video to look good. Also jump cutting is one of the most popular editing techniques used in music videos. This is because it enables a sudden change from one scene to another. Similarly transitions, such as fades and dissolves are very common as they create a different effect to cuts. Computer generated imagery is also popular editing in music videos as it enables the producer to use effects to show impossible outcomes, such as flying. Finally split screens are fairly common in videos as they allow the creator to show two different stories and outcomes at the same time.
Music videos tend to consist of many long, mid and close up shots, in order to create emphasis on the artist, location or emotion. Close up shots are used to show the emotion clearly to the audience and to reflect the words of the song with the movement of the artists lips, to show a connection between the two. The camera is often used to follow the artist; this is usually done by pans, tilts, tracking and crane shots.
Usually crane shots are used when there is usage of stages in order to catcher every movement on stage of the artist. They can also be used to emphasis the number of fans a band has by tracking over the top of the audience showing a vast number of people. An example of this would be in "Planetary Go" by My Chemical Romance, the video consists of the band performing live on stage where crane shots are used over the audience to show the vast number. Similarly in the video there is a lot of low angle close up shots on the lead singer "Gerard Way" as if he has the most power in the clip.
Low angle, close up shot with a blurred effect.
Mise-En-Scene
All music videos contain mise-en-scene suitable for the genre and song type, such as if it’s a performance style video like the "Planetary Go" one there would be instruments, stage equipments and lighting visible in the shot, to emphasis the fact the band are performing live. In the R&B video "Mad" by Neyo, the mise-en-scene involves him walking down a road alone and being in an isolated room. This is a reflection of the isolation from his lover. Also the dark hats and clothes represent the dark mood of the song. It's shot in black and white, this connotes the depressive mood. Props are vital to create significance on a particular person.
Sound
Some video producers decide to add diegetic sounds at the beginning and ending of music videos, these are scenes without any music to explain what is going on, and to start of finish the narrative. Also sometimes in music videos there are changes in the levels of sounds at certain times in the song, this could be for effect, narrative reasons or just to suit what is happening.
Editing
In music videos the editing process takes the longest, it's also the most crucial part. This is because the lip synching needs to be synchronous with the lyrics in order for the video to look good. Also jump cutting is one of the most popular editing techniques used in music videos. This is because it enables a sudden change from one scene to another. Similarly transitions, such as fades and dissolves are very common as they create a different effect to cuts. Computer generated imagery is also popular editing in music videos as it enables the producer to use effects to show impossible outcomes, such as flying. Finally split screens are fairly common in videos as they allow the creator to show two different stories and outcomes at the same time.
Music video conventions part 2
Concept video
These videos portray only stories or images and never performances. An example of this would be "Sabotage" by The Beastie Boys.
Animation video
This is where a video is animated and features animated images in which the artist and band may or may not be depicted. An example of this is "Clint Eastwood" by Gorillaz.
Film video
A film-clip video is used when a song is featured in a movie soundtrack. The video will contain clips from the films that are intercut with the music video. An example of this would be "Hero" by Nickelback.
Mixture video
This is when the video contains a mixture between a performance from the band/artist and a narrative. An example of this would be "Can't Catch Tomorrow" by Lostprophets.
These videos portray only stories or images and never performances. An example of this would be "Sabotage" by The Beastie Boys.
Animation video
This is where a video is animated and features animated images in which the artist and band may or may not be depicted. An example of this is "Clint Eastwood" by Gorillaz.
Film video
A film-clip video is used when a song is featured in a movie soundtrack. The video will contain clips from the films that are intercut with the music video. An example of this would be "Hero" by Nickelback.
Mixture video
This is when the video contains a mixture between a performance from the band/artist and a narrative. An example of this would be "Can't Catch Tomorrow" by Lostprophets.
Music video conventions part 1
All music videos share similar conventions, and here are some examples of styles of videos.
Performance video
These are music videos that feature the artist or band performing the song in the video, it's the easiest type of video to do if you’re on a budget. An example of this would be "Planetary Go" by My Chemical Romance.
Narrative video
not featuring the band/artist in the narrative.
featuring the artist/band in the narrative.
A narrative based music video often contains footage that attempts to tell a story though moving image. The narrative can be either synchronous, where it connects to the lyrics of the song, or abstract, where the storyline is completely separate from the lyrics. An example of this would be "Wherever You Will Go" by The Calling.
Performance video
These are music videos that feature the artist or band performing the song in the video, it's the easiest type of video to do if you’re on a budget. An example of this would be "Planetary Go" by My Chemical Romance.
Narrative video
not featuring the band/artist in the narrative.
featuring the artist/band in the narrative.
A narrative based music video often contains footage that attempts to tell a story though moving image. The narrative can be either synchronous, where it connects to the lyrics of the song, or abstract, where the storyline is completely separate from the lyrics. An example of this would be "Wherever You Will Go" by The Calling.
Censorship
It’s very common for music videos to be censored, especially in modern society. In the past MTV has suffered from negative criticism saying that it’s too politically correct and sensitive, meaning they censor too much of their programmes. The Parents Television Council argued that most of the censored material on MTV is easily discernible because of the context in which it is presented.
In the 1980's media group’s criticised MTV over music videos that were claimed to have explicit images of Satan, since then MTV has developed a strict policy on refusing to air videos that may have religious taboos, for instance MTV had to ban the video for "Megalomaniac" by Incubus. In today’s society all ethnic or racist slurs are censored in music videos and programmes making MTV more diversity aware for all people.
MTV censors music videos to remove references of drugs, sex, violence, weapons, racism, homophobia or advertising. It also completely censors swearing and anything that may be considered copyright. An example of this would be in the song "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance, there are lyrics such as "gun", "murder", "shirt" and "pay", they are censored due to the attacks on a high school in Virginia. Also "This Love" by Maroon 5 had the words "coming" and "sinking" edited out of the lyrics because of the context of the song.
MTV also moves certain music videos onto a late night rotation in a censored format, an example of this would be "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot. Similarly Madonna's "Erotica" was aired on MTV only after midnight due to its dark and sexual scenes. In an interview, Madonna said she agreed with MTV's opinion of the video by saying, “I know that the themes I'm exploring in the video are not for children, so I understand that they can't play it earlier.”
After really looking into what censorship consists of, i have realised that if we were to release our video on MTV, the censorship would heavily apply to our video. We are using a child actor in our video, in which there will be some mild drug abuse in order to fit with MGMT's genre which is psychedelic rock. It’s more than likely our video would have to be edited to be shown or MTV or in a more extreme case not be shown until after the water shed hours.
In the 1980's media group’s criticised MTV over music videos that were claimed to have explicit images of Satan, since then MTV has developed a strict policy on refusing to air videos that may have religious taboos, for instance MTV had to ban the video for "Megalomaniac" by Incubus. In today’s society all ethnic or racist slurs are censored in music videos and programmes making MTV more diversity aware for all people.
MTV censors music videos to remove references of drugs, sex, violence, weapons, racism, homophobia or advertising. It also completely censors swearing and anything that may be considered copyright. An example of this would be in the song "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance, there are lyrics such as "gun", "murder", "shirt" and "pay", they are censored due to the attacks on a high school in Virginia. Also "This Love" by Maroon 5 had the words "coming" and "sinking" edited out of the lyrics because of the context of the song.
MTV also moves certain music videos onto a late night rotation in a censored format, an example of this would be "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot. Similarly Madonna's "Erotica" was aired on MTV only after midnight due to its dark and sexual scenes. In an interview, Madonna said she agreed with MTV's opinion of the video by saying, “I know that the themes I'm exploring in the video are not for children, so I understand that they can't play it earlier.”
After really looking into what censorship consists of, i have realised that if we were to release our video on MTV, the censorship would heavily apply to our video. We are using a child actor in our video, in which there will be some mild drug abuse in order to fit with MGMT's genre which is psychedelic rock. It’s more than likely our video would have to be edited to be shown or MTV or in a more extreme case not be shown until after the water shed hours.
Research into MTV
MTV is an abbreviation for music television, it’s an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by a video jockey, an announcer who introduced and plays music videos on commercial music TV. MTV has had a massive impact on the music industry, slogans such as "I want my MTV" became embedded in the public’s thoughts.
Research into music Institutions
The majority of people in the world today are exposed to some form of music; here i have looked into how music institutions such as YouTube have affected our lives. For instance we no longer watch a video that’s direct from the artist; it’s always broadcasted to us via institutions like MTV or Vevo. These types of web 2.0 sites allow us to here a diverse range of music from all over the world. Due to the globalisation of the internet we get to hear music from parts of the world that we couldn’t 60 years ago.
Facts about YouTube
• The average YouTube user spends between 15 and 25 minutes a day on the site.
• Began life as a video dating site dubbed “Tune in Hook Up” said to be influenced by HotorNot. The three creators decided not to go that route.
• For the last three years YouTube has pranked its millions of users every April Fool’s Day
• As of February 2011, YouTube has 490 million unique users worldwide per month, who rack up an estimated 92 billion page views each month
• We spend around 2.9 billion hours on YouTube in a month, that’s over 325,000 years.
• YouTube says that on average there are more than 400 tweets per minute containing a YouTube link
• On Facebook over 150 years worth of YouTube videos are watched every single day.
The statistics above are evidence of how much of a influence YouTube has in today’s society. It's an interactive platform and therefore enables people from all over the world to share their opinions and comments about a video.
Similarly Vevo
• Is a music video website
• The service was launched officially on December 8, 2009
• The videos on VEVO are syndicated across the web.
• VEVO offers music videos from three of the 'big four' major record labels: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and EMI
• There are more than 45,000 videos available on VEVO.
• The concept for VEVO was described as being a Hulu for music videos, with the goal being to attract more high-end advertisers
• To this end VEVO censors the content of some of its videos for language, to make them more acceptable to advertising partners such as McDonald's
• In August 2010, VEVO introduced a free application for the Apple iPhone that allows users to stream videos in the VEVO catalogue and create playlists.
People can access YouTube no matter where they are in the world due to mobile apps; this means people no longer have to have access to computers to view videos on the web. YouTube is also a good website for artists to use as it allows them to find demographics and opinions on their music much easier than browsing other opinionated websites.
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Our target audience
Our target audience for our chosen music video would mainly be younger people such as teenagers or young adults who would be able to relate to the video personally. We will make the music video so that all ages can enjoy it but we feel as a group that younger people would predominately be our target audience. The story line throughout our video would be easier for the younger generation to relate to, as every person as had a downfall in their life and have gone through something they needed rescuing from.
If I was to personally promote the MGMT song ‘Kids’ I think it would most likely appear on TV shows aimed at younger people, for instance Hollyoaks during the ad breaks rather than on BBC 2 at 11pm.
If I was to personally promote the MGMT song ‘Kids’ I think it would most likely appear on TV shows aimed at younger people, for instance Hollyoaks during the ad breaks rather than on BBC 2 at 11pm.
I decided not to add the official music video for the song, as our group decided not to watch the video as it might influence us during the filming of ours.
Research into the music industry
Over the years there seems to have been a massive decline of music on music channels, for instance MTV have suffered as they used to be very music based where as nowadays it’s rare to find a music video on MTV as they have been replaced with lifestyle and comedy shows, such as ‘My Super Sweet 16th.’ There are channels which specify for niche music videos, for instance for much older and slower music, the channel ‘Magic’ would be suitable.
This could be due to the fact audiences can easily produce their own music videos for a seriously cheap price, for instance on sites such as ‘YouTube’ there is free broadcasting of music twenty four seven, meaning that song channels are not needed as much which causes a decline in the industry. Due to YouTube audiences are now vastly blurring the once evident lines between consumer and producers as they are making their own videos for a cheap price, meaning they take on the shoes of the producer. This then causes a power shift as the audience claim most power which often threatens record labels as they lose out on a lot of money as they are needed less to make expensive music videos to promote an artist, because the audience are downloading their song for free rather than purchasing it. This can be seen as beneficial to the artist because overall its free advertising, therefore it’s not always considered such a bad thing.
Finally because of web 2.0 sites like YouTube there has been a consequential shift in relationship between producer and audience. The point of web 2 is that it’s a way for audience to connect with one another, for instance YouTube enables audience to upload a video which they created and then share that with the whole world, this therefore gives active audiences a chance to share their opinion and let a relationship form.
This could be due to the fact audiences can easily produce their own music videos for a seriously cheap price, for instance on sites such as ‘YouTube’ there is free broadcasting of music twenty four seven, meaning that song channels are not needed as much which causes a decline in the industry. Due to YouTube audiences are now vastly blurring the once evident lines between consumer and producers as they are making their own videos for a cheap price, meaning they take on the shoes of the producer. This then causes a power shift as the audience claim most power which often threatens record labels as they lose out on a lot of money as they are needed less to make expensive music videos to promote an artist, because the audience are downloading their song for free rather than purchasing it. This can be seen as beneficial to the artist because overall its free advertising, therefore it’s not always considered such a bad thing.
Finally because of web 2.0 sites like YouTube there has been a consequential shift in relationship between producer and audience. The point of web 2 is that it’s a way for audience to connect with one another, for instance YouTube enables audience to upload a video which they created and then share that with the whole world, this therefore gives active audiences a chance to share their opinion and let a relationship form.
Friday, 21 October 2011
Lyrics analysis - Kids by MGMT
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song, in our case MGMT’s lyrics are very abstract and almost unintelligible, and therefore they are decoded in different ways by each individual. Here I have outlined a few of the possible meanings of our chosen song.
The first possible meaning is that the song is about life and the different stages. For example the lyrics “crawling on your knees towards it” this could represent a stage of infancy. Similarly the lines “enjoy yourself take only what you need from it” and “control yourself” is said to mean enjoy life and take only what you really need from it, and not be greedy something which strongly affects the current generation.
Another meaning for the song based on the lyrics “when a baby is born” suggests the song introduces another stage in life which is no longer about the success of one’s self but one maturing and the changes and realisation that take place when they have a family.
Some people have linked the song’s lyrics with the ideology of ‘The American Dream,’ for example the lyrics “Making momma so proud” references to the belief that it’s important to do well and make your family proud of you.
Many people believe the song is representing environmental destruction, for example babies and kids are being used as a metaphor because they are innocent and dependant and the way the environment is being destroyed is oblivious to them.
You were a child
Crawling on your knees toward it
Making momma so proud
But your voice is too loud
We like to watch you laughing
You pick the insects off plants
No time to think of consequences
[Chorus:]
Control yourself
Take only what you need from it
A family of trees wanting to be haunted
Control yourself
Take only what you need from it
A family of trees wanting to be haunted
The water is warm
But it's sending me shivers
A baby is born
Crying out for attention
Memories fade
Like looking through a fogged mirror
Decisions too
Decisions are made and not bought
But I thought this wouldn't hurt a lot
I guess not
[Chorus x6]
The first possible meaning is that the song is about life and the different stages. For example the lyrics “crawling on your knees towards it” this could represent a stage of infancy. Similarly the lines “enjoy yourself take only what you need from it” and “control yourself” is said to mean enjoy life and take only what you really need from it, and not be greedy something which strongly affects the current generation.
Another meaning for the song based on the lyrics “when a baby is born” suggests the song introduces another stage in life which is no longer about the success of one’s self but one maturing and the changes and realisation that take place when they have a family.
Some people have linked the song’s lyrics with the ideology of ‘The American Dream,’ for example the lyrics “Making momma so proud” references to the belief that it’s important to do well and make your family proud of you.
Many people believe the song is representing environmental destruction, for example babies and kids are being used as a metaphor because they are innocent and dependant and the way the environment is being destroyed is oblivious to them.
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