Analysis of Music Videos 4

Existing companies that produce and distribute music videos 3

From this I have learnt that Most of the companies have artists from a lot of different genres. Also they are eaither based in London or the United States.

Conventions of a music video 2

The 1975 'Girls'

Vance Joy 'Riptide'

The History Of Music Video 1

Editing narrative workshop

Carol Vernallis' theory:

1) Narrative:
- The video is a response to the music

2) Editing:
-  The editing will match the musical phrase/beat
- Continuity editing is sometimes broken
3) Camera Movement and Framing:
- Mostly close ups and long shots are used
- Usually 

4) Diegesis:
- Some frames might be more important than others
- There may be gaps in the audience's understanding of the diegesis - in time, space, performance and narrative.


- There isn't a balance between the narrative scenes and performance scenes
- The video may pose questions that it will not be answered in the video

- Characters or performer usually moves to the music
- The diegesis may be revealed slowly






Andrew Goodwin's theory:

1) Narrative and performance: 
- Music videos contain typical genre characteristics
- It should be a balance between performance and narrative so that it is interesting

2) Star image:
- This has a big part it the production of the music video
- Gives the artist a particular look

3) Relation of visuals to the song:
- Three are three main ways to promote a song through a music video
a. Illustrate- a set of images to show the meaning of the lyrics and genre
b. Amplify- the meaning and effect of the song is shown through the video to change the way we listen to the song
c. Disjuncture- the meaning of the song is ignored completely

4) Technical aspects:
- Mise en scene
- Editing
- Camera movement and angles

Narrative workshop

"Music videos are simply an extension of the lyrics" - Andrew Goodwin

How can you prove/disprove this theory?

When we made our own narrative for the Taylor Swift music video, we were given a narrative scene in our groups that wasn't meant to go along with the music. My group had the theme "Boy/Girl is heartbroken that boy/girl leaving". We decided that instead of having a couple break up, that we would have two best friends and one of them moves really far away and other friend is really angry. Then the friend is heartbroken that she overreacted. This is the narrative that we came up with:



Then we edited it with the lip syncing task, so that it was like a real music video. And the lyrics changed how the audience saw the narrative. Here is some feedback that I collected:

What does it mean?

Stuart Hall- encoding/ decoding. Multiple meanings. 

What is the main idea behind this?

Helps the viewer understand the lyrics. Helps get the lyrics across

How significant is this?

Stuart Hall- encoding/ decoding. Multiple meanings- Artist could mean one thing but is recived as a different thing by the viewer e.g. Blurred Lines. If the artists or directors use any connotations e.g. Ed Sheeran. Literal and metaphorical meanings. 

What evidence can you already present for this?

Some music videos are like a movie. Sometimes the lyrics are used in the music video. Narrative follows the lyrics word for word e.g. Rebecca Black - Friday

Do you agree with this? Explain your answer.

Lip syncing workshop

For the lip syncing workshop the class was put into groups of three. I was in a group with Louise and Toby. We had to go out and find two locations to film and each have a go at performing and directing. We chose to film on a brick wall and at the bottom of the orchard.

This is my Never Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift video that I did for the lip syncing workshop:


A few of my classmates reviewed the video, here is their feedback:

Lip sync task from Briony96

Then I reviewed Hannah, Beth and Lewis' video with Louise:

What I found difficult about making the video:

• Finding and appropriate place to film while thinking about the different techniques to use.
• Keeping the camera in exactly the same place was hard because sometimes the performer was to close to the camera or to far away and there was a lot of wasted space so we moved the camera.
• Using the different techniques
• I didn't know all of the words so I had to quickly learn them

What I learnt when I was making the video:

•  To make clear mouth movements because it makes it easier when editing
• The more you act out and 'over exaggerate' the better the video will look
• It is important to also think about the different techniques you can use to make the shot more interesting
• Play the song out loud and make sure the camera can hear it as well so that you can link up the audio will the footage properly
• If you are playing the song from a phone then don't put it too close to the camera because it will make the footage unsteady

What I learnt when I was editing the video:

• Use markers when linking the audio with the footage
• Put the footage on different layers
• Lock the audio so that you don't move it accidentally when you are editing the footage