Literal Videos: Bonnie Tyler, 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'

Firstly, this video is one of the best examples of a literal music video as it runs smoothly for the entire video and every single part of it works brilliantly. For example, the video starts with the new lyrics, 'Pan the room', 'Random use of candles, empty bottles, and cloth', which is taking everything that happens in the video literally. The use of intertexuality works well also, refering to people such as The Fonzies and Ringo Starr.

Lip Sync Excercise

In preparation for the lip sync excercise, we split up into groups and we were given a brief reminder and introduction on how to use the camera's and new technology such as the dolly track.
Whilst we were in the studio we began filming Jacky and Tek moving along lip syncing the track, 'Shake it Off' by Taylor Swift. This was probably the most interesting part of the morning as it introduced us to the dolly track and how to use it correctly.

Next, we moved onto using a standard camera with a fixed lens, and in using this we shot from different angles of myself, James, Bertie and Tyler lip syncing the track. Following this we used a simple shot of all but one of the group standing infront of the green screen.

Finishing the shoot, we went up to the editing suite where we linked the music to the video, this was tricky however once we had the timings matched we were able to have a smooth running and authentic looking lip sync.

The excercise on the whole was useful as it reminded me how to film and cut shots together correctly. The most useful part of it was certainly learning how to link the music to the video.

Comparing Wordpress and Wix

VS

What is better, Wix or Wordpress?

I began using Wordpress last week in order to make a website for an artist of my choice. I chose Grime artist, Devilman. On creating the website I did not find it particularly easy as everything was quite complicated and very vague.  From these screenshot's it is difficult to get across what I am saying, however the cover is about as far as I managed to get in an hour and ten minutes. This is due to the complicated nature of the programme.

In comparison to Wordpress, Wix is far easier to use. The templates are sorted into catagories that allow you to distinguish which one would be best for what you are advertising. Having chosen the music catagory, I then entered the next stage of choosing 'singer/songwriter', followed by the template titled 'performing artist'.

This was far easier as it was much more drop and drag, a click to edit the text in the ready available text boxes. I was able to create tour dates far more easily, and add soundcloud and music videos from my artist, Kanye West.

Synthetic album cover: Justin Bieber- Believe

In this album cover, Bieber is looking over his shoulder, with his eyes angled down slightly. This suggests that he is look toward his fans, acknowledging them. The typography is cut out of a white banner, this allows it to stand out as it is in big writing and against a stark contrasting background. The colour scheme around it is a dim reddish glow, with a bright light shinning in the bottom corner, which highlights his stardom and acts as the lights that shine on him during performances.

The lighting on the left hand side of his face is very bright, which again emphasises the bright light glowing in the bottom left corner of the album cover. The other side of his face is turned away from us slightly in a darker light. This implies a shy side to him, which is presenting us with part of his star image.
His costume in this cover has clearly been styled for him, for example we can see gold shoulder plates, and gold collar studs, which stands out to any one looking at him, just like his music makes him stand out.

Here is a music video from his hit sing, Baby:

Andrew Goodwin: Illustration, Amplification and Disjuncture

Amplification

"See you again" by Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth is a good example of an amplification music video as it enhances the meanings that are already pre-existing in the lyrics. 

For example, the video's content focusses on actor, Paul Walker's scenes from the Fast & Furious film franchise. This informs the audience who the lyrics are talking about. The some of the lyrics are:

[Charlie Puth:]
It's been a long day without you, my friend
And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
We've come a long way from where we began
Oh, I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
When I see you again
(Hey)

[Wiz Khalifa:]
Damn, who knew?
All the planes we flew
Good things we've been through
That I'll be standing right here talking to you
'Bout another path
I know we loved to hit the road and laugh
But something told me that it wouldn't last
Had to switch up
Look at things different, see the bigger picture
Those were the days
Hard work forever pays
Now I see you in a better place (see you in a better place)

They are discussing he loss of a 'friend', and it talks about they 'loved to hit the road and laugh'. We then know that the song is about Paul Walker by the content of the video through snippets of screen play from the movies. 

Illustration

Illustration is the simplest and easiest concept to base a music video around as it is just a literal meaning to the song’s lyrics in visual form.

Owl City use illustration in many of their music video's, for example in "Fireflies", the lyrics are supported by the on screen action. 

 For example on the word, fireflies, all of the toy gadgets begin to light up, just like fireflies. Also, there is high use of toy's in the video, for example on some of the words, for example fireflies again, a 'type to speak' toy will type it out: 

Disjuncture

The idea of disjuncture in a music video is the idea of completely ignoring the meaning or concept in/of the lyrics and making a music video that can bring a whole new meaning to the video. They often make very little sense to the viewer.

A good example of a disjuncture music video is Of Monsters and Men's "Little Talks", which is about someone struggling. However, the music video is completely random and follows a group of animated men in a hot air balloon ship being attacked by a giant two headed Raven, and then being saved by a brightly coloured woman (contrasts massively to the dark setting around her).

Album artwork- Marlowe- Testcard- Roja

Marlowe- "it's turning me on" - debut EP

Colour scheme is dominated by red

• Focusing on a woman- eyes are down putting lipstick on. This seems to sexualise her. 
• I think that Marlowe is a male solo artist using a woman to give him a slightly different image.
• Lipstick fits with the colour, and the title, 'it's turning me on'. Red is romantic and suductive, and lipstick is red, plus lipstick is worn by women to look good and 'sexy' to 'turn on' a man.
• The typography is in white, which is put into stark contrast by the red background. This causes the name to stand out. 
• Red sometimes stands out to mean danger.

Marlowe- "darksparklecorner"

• High exposure on the boys face, which pulls him into clear sight. His facial expression suggests that he is frightened, and this is emphasised by the fact that we can clearly see him.
• There is high use of colour, and the colours suggests that the photo was taken in the late 90's or early 2000's. 
• The style of it, such as wallpaper and blanket. 
• Album name sounds dark yet magical.

Marlowe- "a day in july"

• The name contrasts the previous, this one sounds warm and joyful.
• White typography on red background, just like "it's turning me on". 
• Same font- easy to read.
• The background looks to be somewhere in India/Nepal. Suggesting maybe a more worldwide music influence.
• Children in the photo, which is linking to the previous album cover.

Marlowe- "deep breathe fake air"

• More artistic- not a photo this time.
• Black typography on the name, bigger font on the name and centralised position, which emphasises it. Done to stop the art work drawing the attention away from the picture 100%.
• Red background

Testcard- "Lines"

• Simplistic grey card like style. 
• Different shaped lines.
• Complete contrast to the previous covers, even more organic than the previous. Capital letters, all lower case before.
• Dull boring.

Roja- "Promises I should have kept"

• Spanish/Mexican.
• Totally different typography.
• 'Roja' is spanish for red, linking back to red/

Keith Negus: Organic/Synthetic

Ideologies of Creativity: Keith Negus – Producing Pop

• He identifies two distinct ways of thinking about potential artists from within the music industry.

• These ideologies shape the way in which the artists’ images and careers are developed, and the way that they are marketed towards specific target audiences.

• The organic ideology of creativity and The synthetic ideology of creativity.
• 
  
• The Organic Image

In the case of the organic image, it is something that is pre-existing and has maybe only been enhanced by the artist's record label. An example of this is Ed Sheeran, who began his career with the image of a scruffy ginger boy wearing a checked shirt. An organic artist's career also predominently focuses on their music rather than their image.

The Synthetic Image

The synthetic image is something that has been contructed by a record label so that the artist 'becomes' someone else in their image. A good example of a synthetic artist is Justin Bieber, who began his career with the cute, young boy with an amazing voice. However, as the years have gone by, his music has changed, his image has changed and his press image has changed. Nowadays he is presented as a young man always caught up in scandels and so on. 

Justin Bieber's Mugshot

Bieber aged 15

Richard Dyer: The Star Image

Richard Dyer is an English academic specialising in cinema, and since 2006 has been Proffesor of Film Studies at King's College London.

In 1979, he wrote his first full-length book, 'Stars', which focuses on the idea that the viewers perception of a film is hugely influenced by the viewers perception of the stars in the film.

With this thesis, he analysed critics' writing, magazines, and the actual advertising for the films in order to explore the significance of stardom and 'The Star Image'.

Star Theory 

The term 'pop star' has become interchangeable. The study of stars as media texts or simply just components of media texts requires that a distinction be made between those who are known for performing music and those who are the stars in the music industry. These stars also have an identity or persona that has been given to them, and this is how their fans see them in and out of performance. 

The achievement of pop star status is solely down to the artist's management, and the way that they are promoted. For example, a famous boyfriend/girlfriend, appearances at events and so on..

Stars are artificial images that are entirely constructed by their management, even though they are represented to be the image they give off to be the "real them". What gives certain stars the edge is something that can become a trend to be copied by hundreds and hundreds of fans. A good example of an image being replicated is Bono's 'Fly' sunglasses or Biebers haircut.

A quote from Dyer's book, Stars reads:
“A star is an image not a real person that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (eg advertising, magazines etc as well as films [music]).” 

A good example that helps to understand the star image 'process' is looking at shows like The X-Factor, or The Voice as it allows the audience to meet a performer with their own pre-existing image, and then watch this image evolve into a synthetic or even organic image. However, this happens in such a heightened and fast paced way due to the limited time that they have.

Jake Bugg: an Organic artist

• Eyeline angled downwards to the left, suggesting his shyness. However, it suggests a slight legitimacy to his character. His clothing is basic yet clearly styled in such a way that makes him look plain but deliberate. This shows that despite his organic image, there is still some type of control over his image. 
• His image is also fairly shady, this adds an air of mystery and a look that suggests he is an unruly teen.
• This is typical of an indie folk artist, as they are using what they already have at their disposal to promote their product. 
• The colours are very neutral, and the background out of focus. This highlights his facial features that show him to be a young, classicaly handsome man. 
• His music is typically indie and slightly old fashioned with a guitar dominating instrumentally. This old fashioned aspect is reinforced by the sepia toned editing.
• His name is in large bold writing and underlined, which introduces you to the artist and draws your initial attention when looking at the cover.
• The lack of an album name on the cover shows its irrelevance when compared to the album's content.
• In terms of Star image, he is presented to be very simplistic, shy and humble, which again shows that he is an organic artist as a synthetic artists album cover would focus on them entirely.

Here is an example of his music, Two Fingers:

Madonna's 'Like a Prayer' music video

Madonna's, 'Like a Prayer' music video clearly follows the main theme of religion, and the focus is mainly on that of religion in black culture, and of Roman catholicism. There are also themes of racism in America.



The narative follows the protagonist Madonna, who appears to be talking to an image of a black jesus. This image is seen by the audience through their oppositional reading as this figure was intended to be seen as the patron saint of mixed raced people. However, the image of a black Jesus was far more dominant than the intended reading. This suggests that maybe Madonna was being deliberately controversial in making this video. The image induces her to enter a dream like state. This is shown through the lyrics and supported by the cinematography. For example, the lyrics are 'It's like a dream, no end and no beginning/ You're here with me, it's like a dream' and as she lies on the ground, the lyrics are, 'I close my eyes', which is when the camera cuts to show her floating through the sky.

As Madonna ask's the lord for help, the black figure of Jesus comes to life, as if answering her prayer, which further enhances the religious theme in the video. Also, the fact that this wax figure has come to life suggests a kind of miracle happening. Furthermore, this is enhanced as she picks up a dagger and grasps it, which leaves stigmata upon her hands, as if she has been nailed to a cross.

We see why she needed help as the camera shows a gang of men acting as the villains attacking a woman, who is the victim, and stabbing her in the side.

This is another religious idea as Jesus was stabbed in the side by the Romans. The narrative progresses to show the black man that came to life previously, coming to help the girl being attacked. As the attackers run, a police car arrives and the headlights shine on the man who is holding the girls head, checking to see if she is okay. The camera cuts to show the man pinned against the wall being handcuffed.

This is following the idea that there is racism in America, assuming that this man was the one who attacked the woman. It is also something that is still a problem in todays society with police brutality against people of opposite ethnicity holding extreme relevance. The fact that the audience know that the man is innocent and is simply trying to help the girl subverts the stereotype that some people have, saying that black people commit more crime than white people.

The lyrics further develop the story as she next sings, 'Life is a mystery', which is Madonna asking the question of why do black people get discriminated by white people? During this part of the song and video, we see her singing and dancing infront of burning crosses, which suggest further racist elements to the music video as KKK (Klu Klux Klan) members often set great wooden crosses alight at their meetings.


Due to the problems of the time that this song was released (1989), this video would have been highly controversial. This was because there were still many white supremacist groups in the American south, and images such as a black Jesus, and a black man being made to look better than a group of white men would have sparked outrage among these groups. Therefore, Madonna's target audience will have been to her pre-existing fans, obviously, and to people with open minds and a modern way of thinking, ready to listen to the message that she is trying to get across.

The video shows her to be organic as she has been styled in a way that is very much keeping up with the current fashion of the time. For example, the low cut around her breasts, and the bra and dress strap hanging loosely on her arm. This has led her to become a sort of fashion icon, with copies of the dress selling on fancy dress websites.

Madonna's star image is one that is very sexualised, with provocative clothing and sexual connotations in her lyrics, such as, 'In the midnight hour I can feel your power', and 'I'm down on my knees'. In the video specifically, there is much focus on her breasts, for example;

The rest of the narrative follows a gospel choir singing the song with her, and there is a theatrical sense added to the video with the use of stage curtains and text reading 'The End'. This shows the audience that this is just a performance, and that she is just a star and artist singing her song.