Cyanide live performance

This is a video of a live performance of the band playing the song Cyanide. In terms of costume, the male band members appear to wear matching dark, slim-fit suits, while the female singer is seen wearing a red dress. The suits and dress have connotations of sophistication, while the contrast in colours conveys the males as quite formal and clinical, as they're typically associated with the dark grey they wear, while the female is presented as more vibrant and passionate. This makes her stand out from the rest of the band and suggests that she has particular significance within the song. As the video is all one long shot of the band performing on stage, editing and transitions are not relevant in this context. As a result, even though the pace and tempo of the song is quite fast, the lack of cuts make the video contrastingly slow paced, creating inconsistency. We will improve on this by using a wide variety of different shots, and making sure that the shots lengths are a lot shorter to give our music video more replay value.

With regards to lighting, they use red and green as consistent still lights on the back of the stage, which are apparent for a majority of the song. This suggests that the themes they connote, such as love and envy, are key factors in the song. As it progresses, they also use white lights which move, spin and project shapes onto the walls, to create more visual variety. The lights also flicker on and off, in time with the beat of the song, relating to the atmosphere of a club and therefore connoting quite a rebellious nature.


- Ryan Chapman and Peter Godwin -

Research into chosen artist

Our artist of choice was a local band called TFI (The Fake Imposters) who consist of 4 members who write their own material as well as performing a few covers of other songs. They state that they follow a punk genre with the band's main instruments including a drum set, base and electric guitar.
Generally, the Punk genre consists of the following conventions:

• Low budget
• Naturalistic settings
• Focuses on the artist(s), e.g. close up shots 
• Often a retro look
• Live performance/narrative-based structure
• Dietetic sounds for realism 
• Several establishing shots of the band
• Black and white filters
• Strong views on anarchy and 'not following the system'

Their music follows this genre however the band's style doesn't as much for the members themselves dress a little too formal for it and could be easily confused with being an indie/rock band. Also the suits go against the convention of being unique as they look too uniformal, therefore we will re-design them to look more aesthetically appropriate for the genre.

TFI aren't a part of a Record Company or institution which is useful as it means we only need their direct permission to use their music, however it also means we must find one to represent them for our video, advertisement and digipak. The most local ones we found included Big Noise Records, Chandos Records, Schnitzel Records, Spear Havoc, Ram Records and Specky Records. We chose to use Spear Havoc as it was both professional looking and non mainstream. Also its website had a fairly punk-like theme to it which would work with our genre. We didn't want a mainstream company because that would be less accessible and not as appropriate for our small niche band.
-Joseph A. Luck-




--Peter Godwin-

Lip sync practice

This is our lip synch practice. We used the song 'Holiday' by Green Day as it has a similar beat and tempo to our chosen song. Green Day is also a punk rock band which correlates with our chosen genre for our music video.
We did this lip synch practice to hone our skills in filming, editing and synching a song to the actors in the video in preparation for making our own video. It also allowed us to test the different kinds of filters on the editing software. 
This test allowed us to experiment with different types of shots, for instance close-ups, mid range and tracking shots, all of which we will utilise in our video. We also experimented with camera angles, for example high angles and low angles. The high angle was used to hover over the actors whilst they were laying on the floor and the low angle was used to emphasise the lead actor jumping on the wooden log.
We were also able to use the generic codes and conventions for the costumes used throughout the video, for instance the black suit and tie worn by the lead is a generic convention in punk rock videos.
-Peter Godwin, Ryan Chapman and Joseph A. Luck-

Lip sync Green Day

This is the video we have chosen to do our lip synch test on. We chose this video as it is in the same genre as our chosen artist and has a similar speed to the beat.
-~Peter Godwin~-

Favourite music videos-Joseph

Macklemore: Same Love



'Same love' is a song featured in Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' album 'The Heist' in 2012. The video and song were created in support of the Washington Referendum 74 in order to help legalise same-sex marriage. What I love about this video is it conveys this message perfectly by the theme and thought provoking impact it has on its audience.
The video, directed by Jon Jon Agustavo follows the life story of a gay man from the day of his birth till the day he dies, looking into various important events and struggles he goes through such as the realisation of his sexuality, telling his parents, being judged by passers by and finally getting married. The video also begins with various scenes from his childhood doing everyday children's activities such as cycling or playing signifying how he is just as normal as any other child. It even includes a shot of him giving a flower to a girl making him seem heterosexual which is commonly seen as 'normal' with children, highlighting how insignificant his sexuality is to his personality.
What I like most about the video is its link with the artist himself. Neither Macklemore nor the vocal singer Mary Lambert are featured in the video except for the wedding scene in which they have non-speaking roles, however Macklemore points out in the song that his uncle was homosexual with the word "till the day that my uncles could be reunited by law". This, as well as the fact that he was at their, wedding signifies that the gay couple are most likely based on Macklemore's uncles. Mary lambert is also homosexual so both artist relate well with the subject the video is trying to touch upon.

Favourite music videos-Peter

Green Day is a punk rock band, and my favourite track from the band is entitled “Holiday”.

The song ”Holiday” is taken from the album “American Idiot” by Green Day, released in 2004. It tells a story about the main character of the album, Jesus of Suburbia. He finally breaks free from his dead end job and enters the city. He is feeling extremely excited and elated about it. He is on holiday and starting a new chapter in his life.
The song was written by the lead singer of the band, Billy Joe Armstrong. He stated that the song was an “anti-war” song, and we can tell this from many of the lyrics.
“Hear the sound of the falling rain, coming down like an Armageddon flame”. He feels the war started by George Bush could signal the end of the world as a whole.
“The shame, the ones who died without a name”. This tells of all the victims of war, both soldiers and civilians, who have died in war situations.
The first half of the video takes place in a car, and shows the members of the band partying around the town.
The second half is set in a bar and each of the band members play several different characters. Billie Joe Armstrong plays a Representative of California, two men fighting, and a punk rocker. Tre Cool plays a drunken priest, a man who has been arrested and a female prostitute. Mike Dirnt plays the barman, another punk and the policeman.
There are also scenes showing tired and worn out can-can dancers.
This video links into the video for the next track on the album entitled Boulevard of Broken Dreams. The car they are travelling in breaks down in a field.
This video is my favourite as it has created a very memorable image in my head. The lyrics are also very catchy making them stick in my head. The part I mainly remember is the section where the beat dies down and Billy commences with ‘seek out the president gas man…’ The beat backing this section sticks in my head as it’s the same guitar chords repeated over and over again.  The beat also has a very fast pace which fits to the fast pace of the video, which shows how well it was edited together. The actual video itself contains moments of humour i.e. seeing Tré dressed as a woman. This appeals to me as I appreciate this form of humour. The music genre of the video is punk-rock which is my favourite style of music as it has a heavy beat and good lyrics. The costumes also appeal to me, as they are quite formal with a shirt and tie. This is a style I often wear. I very much hope to go to a Green Day concert.

~Peter~

Favourite music video - Ryan

This fan made music video for the song 'Rude' by MAGIC! is my favourite music video, because of it's unique visual style and being a good example of Goodwin's media theory, with the visuals being based around the narrative within the lyrics, making the story easy to understand as well as entertaining. The visual style relates to a child doodling, which connotes quite an energetic and youthful approach to the music. It's also very vibrant, with the video containing a wide variety of colours and, as a result, creating quite an upbeat atmosphere, relating to the mood and tone of the song itself.











By visually displaying the lyrics on screen, the artist is making the song more memorable for the audience. What's interesting is that the font of the lyrics are presented as though they were handwritten, relating back to the childish element of the visuals and somewhat patronising the audience for humorous effect. In correlation, in terms of character types, this music video adopts a stereotypical approach with their being a main protagonist whom we feel compelled to empathise towards, seeing as both the song and the narrative are about him trying to get approval to marry the girl he loves. By contrast, there is also a main antagonist, conveyed as a stereotypically grumpy old man and it's this consistent child-like perception of people that makes this video so unique and therefore sticks out in my mind as a really enjoyable video that makes me want to watch, as well as listen, to it.

The video also uses the psychology of colour to convey certain themes depending on the context. For example, at one point, the couple are in a luxurious green boat while the grumpy old man follows behind in a small grey sailing boat.











To conclude, this music video is my personal favourite because it has a really distinctive visual style, the song itself is very enjoyable and the smoothness of the transitions result in a very quick pace.

- Ryan Chapman -

Representation in music videos

REPRESENTATION IN MUSIC VIDEOS

Representation in music videos focuses on the way a particular person or object is portrayed in that video and in that genre of videos. In music videos certain features are highlighted in order to portray a particular aspect of their personality or appearance. This might be:

·         Age

·         Gender

·         Financial status

·         Race/Ethnicity

·         Job

As a result of the way the person or object is portrayed, the viewer makes certain assumptions about them, and feels in a certain way towards them.

Music video producers pick up on certain aspects of reality in their videos and centre on these, representing the person or object in a particular way in order to sell their product. In this way stereotypes become common and are easily recognisable by the audience.

Representation of age

Age is often stereotypically portrayed in music videos.

Young people / teenagers are often portrayed in rebellious, anti-establishment behaviour, such as smoking, drinking, drugs and violence. They are shown as young and free, wanting to live in the moment. This is the stereotypical view of young people put forward by the media and particularly in music videos. They are also portrayed as rebellious and violent in the punk genre.

The older generation are seen not to do much during the day and don’t like having much going on around them.

Representation of gender

Boys are taught to be tough and masculine and not to cry. This is the traditional stance. It can be seen in music videos for example Jay-Z’s music video ’99 problems’.

In rock and heavy metal videos, men are often portrayed as rather mean and moody, exhibiting intense stares into the camera. The men are portrayed as big and strong usually with numerous tattoos all over their body.

In hip hop and rap videos, the men are portrayed as the dominant sex. They are shown as the ones with the money, the power and the amazing accessories that go with an extremely glamorous lifestyle. There is often an underlying sense of violence.

Women are constantly portrayed in a very sexual, seductive way in many genres of music videos. They wear scant, provocative clothing and perform in a highly sexual manner, adopting suggestive poses. Skirts are short and tops show a lot of cleavage. Beautiful girls are often dressed in tight underwear showing off their bodies. In pop videos, many of the female stars are shown dancing and gyrating in a suggestive manner. The scene can include pole dancing which has very definite sexual connotations.

In some music videos, this representation is challenged, for instance in Pink’s ‘Stupid Girl’. Here she attacks celebrities such as Paris Hilton but portrays women Hilary Clinton as a positive role model.

Women are often represented as a stereotype of a burlesque girl with feather boas, corsets, fish net stockings and hats and canes. Again they are portrayed as very feminine and sexy. They are seen in very revealing outfits as to appeal to the males watching the video. This uses Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze Theory’. An example of this would be Madonna in the music video ‘Open Your Heart’.

In hip hop and rap videos, women are portrayed as sexual objects for the gratification of the men. They are shown as adoring figures who follow the men around, and are happy to be treated as inferior objects. They are often seen draped over the men, looking up to them.

Voyeurism is a common theme in videos, and women are portrayed as objects to be looked at and desired. They are passive, there just to be watched. The women’s sexuality only exists in relation to the men.

Representation of financial status

In many videos, council estates are shown as part of a gritty, run down Britain, where people on low incomes and benefits live in one room flats in high rise blocks. It is a deprived and poor setting, and the colour grey is often used to give a dull, uninspiring environment. Violence is often linked to these scenes. In pop music videos the pop star is usually seen in a very expensive and very wealthy environment.

Representation of race/ ethnicity

Different ethnicities are often portrayed in very stereotypical ways in music videos.

In rap videos, African American men are often portrayed as pimps and drug dealers. They are also stereotypically represented as unemployed and as criminals who steal and form gangs. In contrast to this the pop music predominantly white, artists are usually portrayed as very rich and wealthy living a very privileged lifestyle.

Madonna’s ‘Like a prayer’ features a woman witness the murder of a white girl by white males and the arrest of a black male who tried to prevent this from occurring. This video exposes racial prejudice in the modern day society. Madonna also dances in front of burning cross, which represents the KKK who terrorize the African American community.

Afrika Shox’s ‘Leftfield’ follows a third world country civilian walking through New York. The message in this video is that poverty goes on in everyday life while everyone else continues on with their everyday life. There are numerous examples in this video of this, for example there is a white business man sitting opposite a black poverty stricken man and the white man just ignores him and continues to read the newspaper.

Representation of job

In music videos, the lifestyle of a pop star is portrayed as extremely glamorous, and worthy of great adulation and respect. There are numerous examples of the pop star playing out this glamorous lifestyle in the videos. This is contrasted to the rap and hip hop videos which see the artist as poor and unemployed, usually living an unprivileged lifestyle.

In our music video we will depict representations of the following:

• Age-All of the characters in our video will be in their early twenties. This is a time in your life when you have started on your career path but not yet settled down to a family lifestyle. You enjoy going out and socialising and are still possibly looking for a permanent relationship.
• Gender-The girls in our music video will be dressed in short skirts and low riding tops to show off their sexuality. 
• Social class-Our characters will be taken from the middle classes who enjoy partying and socialising with their friends and are able to afford to do this in pleasant surroundings 
• Job-Our characters will all work in a good job, possibly office based where they are used to dressing in smart casual clothes. They will earn enough to finance their lifestyle. 
• Ethnicity-Our characters will be white Europians fitting the idea that many people who work in this type of environment come from this race. 

Representation in Rock Videos

 

I have studied representation in rock videos in order to try to incorporate these ideas into our own music video as I feel it is important for our video to be as authentic as possible and fit the genre of music.

In rock music videos, there is often not one dominant male but a group of males in the band performing the song. Females are usually portrayed through the storyline if the video is a narrative video telling the plot of the lyrics. Sometimes the band is showing playing in live gigs, where females are shown dancing as part of the crowd emphasising the live nature of the music. If the lead singer of the band is female, she is often dressed in black to fit in with the dress code of rock videos. An example of this would be Suzy Quatro, who usually performed in black leathers.

It is very common for fans of rock music to be represented as being aggressive, disruptive and in some cases violent. The genre is often associated with drugs and alcohol, and with the anti-establishment behaviour that these can induce. Punk rock particularly is associated with loud music, a rebellious and independent attitude. Rock artists get a lot of attention from the media in terms of their sex lives, their use of drugs and their dependence on alcohol. Well known rock stars such as Mick Jagger, Ozzy Osbourne, and punk rock stars such as Kurt Cobain, are intricately linked with the drugs scene. The lyrics of rock songs often speak of substance abuse, death and violence. These traits are portrayed in the music videos. Rebellion is a strong theme in much of rock music.

Some modern rock bands are not nearly as aggressive and destructive in their music, for example Green Day however the themes opf rebellion and drugs are still present in some of their songs.

In our video, we are going to try to incorporate the sense of rebellion but in a slightly more controlled manner. It will combine images of the band and the music with the narrative of the lyrics.

Peter Godwin

Plot and narrative work for the music video

Each of the members of our group looked individually at the lyrics of Cyanide and formed their own opinions on the evolution of the storyline and how best to interpret this in the video to accompany the music. We then worked in collaboration with each other to produce the final storyline. Whilst considering this storyline, we kept in mind Andrew Goodwin's theory on music videos, in order that our video would conform to his points.
The opening scene will involve an attractive, well dressed male entering the pub and ordering himself a drink. In punk rock music videos, clothing is often of dark colours and we will use a dark shirt and trousers for this male character. He is handed the menu by a female who is out of shot in order to keep her identity hidden. She is in fact the ex-girlfriend. There is a close-up shot of a cyanide pill being dropped into his drink. Andrew Goodwin's theory states that intertextuality is often used in music videos. We used Agatha Christie's film, Sparkling Cyanide, as partial inspiration for our video.

The video cuts to a scene of the band playing in an underpass linking the band and the lyrics to the storyline. Punk rock videos are often filmed in urban locations and so we used this underpass to fit in with this convention. The walls are covered with graffiti.
The band will be wearing black jeans, and leather jackets which will follow the conventions of punk rock bands as seen in various artists and bands, for instance Green Day.
Andrew Goodwin's theory states that there is a succint relationship between the music and the visuals in a music video and we will strive to achieve in our video. An example of this would be the drop of cyanide in the drink which links to the lyrics '...'


We are taken back to the storyline through a flashback scene of the male being introduced by his girlfriend, the female who handed him the menu in the previous shot, to one of her friends. The new female and the male are instantly attracted to one another. The scene cuts to show the male and the new girl dancing and flirting at a house party with the ex-girlfriend looking on. The band is playing in the background linking the lyrics to the scene. Andrew Goodwin states that women are often portrayed in a voyeuristic manner in music videos. We will follow this convention as both girls will be dressed in short sexy dresses to appeal to a male audience. 
A mid-shot scene in a living room shows the male and the ex-girlfriend arguing and he walks out leaving her crying.
The story returns to the pub and shows the ex-girlfriend working behind the bar. We see her glare at him as she hands him the menu. She returns to the bar and takes a cyanide pill which she puts into his drink. A close up shot shows him sipping at his drink while she looks on with enjoyment.
As he falls to the ground the new girlfriend walks in and screams.
All of these scenes are linked together by shots of the band performing.
Our video will contain many close-up shots of the artists and their instruments to conform to the conventions of a music video.
-Peter Godwin-