(this is an extension of what Tasha has written on her blog. I've sorted everything into
sections so that writing the script will be easier and added my own points)
Our music video, album cover and artist website all use some
forms and conventions of real media products whilst developing or challenging
others.
Music video
The music video incorporates
features commonly found in music videos which were identified by Andrew Goodwin
and Carol Vernallis.
Andrew Goodwin
The genre of our chosen song is Pop,
R&B and Hip-Hop and we took this into consideration when deciding elements
of our music video which demonstrates typical Pop, R&B and Hip-Hop genre
characteristics through the choice of performance (dance moves), gestures,
costume, hairstyle, jewellery, concept and lighting. The chorus dance is very
hip hop styled with strong sharp moves and grooves. The clothes chosen gave vibrant R&B
stereotypical character but were also very glamorous. Hair was long and flowing,
girly like pop music artists. Also the way females are normally represented, is
sexually, by adding props that are associated with boys, boxing cars balls, we
dismiss this. But also by movement which are strong for instance the dance
routine, is fun not sexual, neither do use close up to the female aspects.
The relationship between lyrics and
visuals as well as music and visuals are either illustrated, amplified or
contradicted. In this case we made it so that it was illustrated through
gestures and movement. When she says hold her breath she holds her neck as if
she is chocking. Also through the beat of the music, you see, the artist moving
to the beat, enjoying the music. As it has an upbeat tempo.
As this is going to be the debut
single, there would need to be a lot of close ups of the artist to create
visual hooks for the audience to almost fall in love with their beauty. Their faces are the main iconography
of the band creating the visual trademark. They are repeated several times, so
the audience recognises the artist. They show what is popular, such as clothes,
hair. Also how females are seen as today, competitive doing things males would
usually be seen doing.
Most Pop, R&B, Hip-Hop music
video concepts are about love, especially by female artists, partying, or break
up. Our music video was about friendship and competition which opposes the
stereotype.
There are many references to the
notion of looking within our music video. Pointing at 00:20 (Tasha to shoes), 00:24 (Tasha pointing at herself), 00:30 and 00:33 (Tasha pointing to viewer), 01:26 and 01:28 (Vicki pointing to herself), 02:19 (Vicki pointing to audience then to
self) and 02:26 (Tasha pointing to audience) directs where we want the viewer
to be looking, which is at the artist. The split screen effect creates many
frames within frames and therefore there is more going on and more for the
viewer to focus on, as a result they may watch the video a few times over in
order to catch the detail which means more attention for the artist.
Our artists have certain gestures
that are similar to the way other Hip Hop artists like Jessie J and Beyoncé
act, such as Tasha pointing to her shoes at 00:20 similar to how Jessie J did
in her Price Tag video. There is also an intertextual reference at 01:24 of our video when Tasha does “Oh Oh
Booty Shake”, an R&B dance move made popular by Beyoncé, while Vicki looks
at her disapprovingly. The pair both wear lots of gold jewellery which is
associated with gangsters, for example, the ‘WHATEVER’ necklace. One of the
outfit changes includes letterman jackets, which are popular with Americans and
also sports fans.
Carol Vernallis
Vernallis’ theory is all about the
four key concepts that are related to the way the music video is constructed,
the narrative, the editing, the camera movement and framing and lastly the
diegesis.
Narrative
This music video is mainly
performance, with loose narrative and loose concept. The song drives the
concept of doing you yourself, don’t follow others. Narrative is about enemies,
competing in many differences, but they bring them together at the end, however
to audience it is an open interpretation. Performance is mainly of the artist,
and how they perform, dancing and singing, entertaining the audience, get a
sense of the artist themselves how their relationship is between the two
artists.
Our video had to be a visual
response to the music. When we listened to it we thought about how children are
put down a lot because they do their own thing, where their own fashion and
where a different hairstyle, and this excludes them from getting friends. We
thought our artist should show how people can have many differences, but can
still be friends like our own artist. That’s just the loose narrative and since
the song is upbeat and fun, we made it more performance for it to be pleasing
to the audience eyes. The structure is disjointed, like many other music
videos, such as my case countdown. There is a development, as at the start we
have them bullying each other, it’s not a structured story but you see clips of
them showing of in one way or another. Then when the rap comes in we see them
united being the best of friends. We use the change in the music, and built up
performance establishes the changes and development also. The video has a simple meaning leaving
no pondering on questions, as we want the audience to simply enjoy the visuals,
feeling complete at the end with a happy ending of them together.
Editing
Our video incorporates many music
video editing conventions; editing to the beat (it cuts mostly after every line
as well on impacting words and split screens move in time with lyrics or music),
using a distinctive style of editing that runs throughout the video (split
screens), having an uneven pace (editing slows during verses and quickens at
rap)
There are cuts from long shots to
extreme close ups, cuts from say a blue background to a red background and
split screens which all made the editing very obvious and also disrupted the continuity
of the video, these are both clear conventions of music video.
Although our music video mostly
followed Vernallis’ music video editing conventions, we did have a few
match-on-actions at 00:14 and during the dance routine in
chorus which goes against Venallis’ theory.
Camera Movement and Framing
The camera movement in our video
revolves mostly on how the artist moves, and how the artist moves in time with
the music, especially on impacting words or beats. Many close ups and long
shots were used throughout the entire video, especially long shots during the
chorus dance routine and close ups for the opening of the song.
Diegis
The first 8 shots used for the
opening of the song were all close ups, this was done in order to not give too
much away. As soon as anything other than a close up was used, the rivalry
between the two friends was revealed, introducing the audience to the concept
of the music video. As the general concept was rivalry we split the song,
giving parts to each group member as “their time to shine”. The first verse and
chorus was Tasha’s, the second verse and chorus was Vicki’s and the rap and
final chorus were for them to share, during which they show their friendship
that has overcome their rivalry.
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