Documentary Music Video Textual Analysis

Little Mix's Cannonball is a documentary style music video, the narrative being their journey from the beginning of the x factor, to winning it. You can find this video below.

The video starts with photos capturing the moment Little Mix won the famous singing  competition, with reactions from the judges, their family/friends, and themselves. In the second part of the first verse we then see a live performance begin, and this is the backbone for the rest of the video as the narrative always comes back to this.

Flashbacks then begin, we see the beginning of little mix where the four girls walk out onto the stage at boot-camp and are put together, the shot is constantly switching between flashbacks and the live performance. The flashbacks are really relevant and significant, there are a lot of reaction close-up shots making the narrative emotional and more heart-felt. We see the four girls friendship grow and the pride their families have for them.

At the bridge, the background music is turned down and we can only hear Jade Thirlwall's vocals, this is perfect for building tension and so the shot of the girls standing with their opponent waiting to see who has won, is perfect. As the winner is announced the loud backing music and chorus is played with all of the girls singing. The music fits with the video perfectly.

We then see the aftermath of Little Mix winning the X Factor, with their family and friends jumping up and down, their mentor crying etc, it is a very emotional and uplifting video.

The final shot is a 'Zoom-Out' from the X Factor stage into the audience fading to black, which I really like as it signifies the end - the end of the competition.

The only part that is lip-synced is the live performance, the key characters are Little Mix and there are no credits but the rights to SimCo. There is no dialogue we can hear, however we see people talking and can guess what they're saying, for example Tulisa letting little mix know they've made it to the next round. I really like this effect as it means the audience have to think a little bit.

Overall I really like the style of this music video as it reveals a true story as the music emphasises the emotion. I want to mirror this in my own video and be able to successfully tell an inspiring story or deliver an inspiring message.

Drama Music Video Textual Analysis

'Clown' by Emeli Sande's music video is one that has a very strong message behind it, yet is portrayed so subtly. It is very dramatic and also revealing as well as interesting in terms of the production and narrative, and that is why I have decided to analyse it.

The video begins with a group of men in military-like outfits, with emeli standing waiting to be brought/invited in. She is brought in with men by either side and greeted with an applause, although she doesn't appear to be happy. Close up shots are used of her deflated face and low angle shots are used of the men in the room to highlight their importance/power. Another shot is used showing a man pulling the petals off a flower - also symbolic as if he is destroying something that was natural pure and beautiful.

Emeli is stood alone surrounded by these men when she is given a contract and a pen and tells the men 'no', they appear shocked with one telling her to sit down asking her to reconsider. As we cant hear any dialogue, the important conversation is placed in words on the screen with a basic background. There is then a close up of the discomfort in emeli's face as the men gather round studying her. High angles are used on Emeli to show her lack of importance, whilst low angles for all the men around her emphasising their importance.

There are patronising shots included where a man places his hand on emeli's face lifting it up to look at him and another where his finger is pointing in her face.

Then, words come up on the screen as if the man is talking. He tells her she has a great talent with the brightest of futures, all that is required is her consent. It is here we finally can see the true meaning behind the song. These men are those that make 'dreams come true' in the music industry, they have the power to lift and smash her career yet she is a money making scheme for them and that is why they want her... under their conditions.  Emeli responds telling them they want her surrender to which they reply "we want your co-operation". This shows the dangers in the music industry, to the artist they are surrendering their true wishes in order to be successful, where the mogulues see it as cooperation.

Through the powerful shots we continue to see Emeli's discomfort, and then we see an uplifting side where she tells these men she wants the power to be herself, freedom. They mock her as they tell her freedom is no use when you live in the gutter. This emphasises the power these men have within the industry as well as their control over the artists, they make them successful, however it comes at a price. We see the men make a decision infront of her as to what will happen should she refuse their offer, we see manipulation as they tell her her audience is waiting.

This is extremely powerful, it makes us feel sad for the artists in these situations and the way the MV has been filmed makes us truly feel her pain. She sings the final chorus holding the pen as a symbol of submission after a short silence in the song for the audience to absorb what is happening. This is the only time where Emeli is in the room full of men miming her lyrics, she sings/says

"I'll be your clown, behind the glass, go ahead and laugh cause its funny I would too if I saw me"

We then see her being taken out of the building as it appears that she has signed the contract.

The message behind this song shows the dangers of the industry. There is an incredible use of angles to show importance or lack of, as well as insecurity and powerlessness. There are two locations, one in the room full of men a.k.a the 'meeting place' and the other in another dark room where it is just Emeli with a black backdrop. The simplicity of locations works amazingly as it contrasts with how complicated the message behind the video is. Most of the lipsyncing is done where emeli is in the room on her own however theres some silenced dialogue we cant hear as we see the men talking and laughing.

The casting and characters are also very well done. We see a range of different men from all over the world showing this power and control in the music industry isn't limited to one country, its global. The men casted have an evil look about them in their laughs, manipulation and patronising ways and this only adds to the effect of feeling sorry for the main character - Emeli acting as herself.

There are no credits but, ironically, text stating all rights are reserved to virgin records. Which lets us know this problem is a reality in the industry. Finally, the video is filmed in black and white which adds to the pureness of the problem, it shows how emeli's decision is very black and white, she either surrenders to her dreams or runs free from them. It gives us less to focus on in order to focus on the story.

Overall, I absolutely love this video from the powerful message it contains to the way it was filmed. For example when the short pieces of dialogue appear on the screen we can read it rather than hear it, meaning we can take it in more. It is all very clever and I want my music video to have elements this video does in terms of meaning.

Romance Music Video Textual Analysis

Jason Derulo's music video for 'What If' is one I have enjoyed watching since it was first released in 2010.

One thing I like so much about this video is that it has a non-linear narrative. It begins with Jason and his girlfriend moving boxes into their new home, when the girl goes out to get the final box, a texting driver doesn't notice and is about to hit her. We see Jason running towards her in slow-motion, just before she is about to get hit, time stops. During this, we see a clock ticking slowly in seconds, and just after time stops, it begins ticking in an anti-clockwise motion, as time rewinds and the song begins.

This is very effective and works so well, the ticking noise emphasises the importance of one's timing - if the girl was 2 seconds earlier in getting to the boxes, she wouldn't have been hit. Already, the meaning of the song is significant to the music video "what if", what if Jason went to get the box instead?

When the clock starts ticking backwards, there is a close up shot of it, following everything rewinding. We see Jason back in his house, and the clock rewinding faster and faster, we see memories the couple have made together for example celebrating birthdays, with a champagne bottle opening in reverse, right up to the point  they both meet when they're sat on the bench.  We are then taken to the time the couple met, and time starts moving forward again. Jason is aware of what will happen to the girl in a few years if he says hello and makes the first move and so, decides to walk away. If he was to say hi to her, some time in the future she would be in danger, the only way to keep her safe and alive is to have never met her in the first place, and so he carries on, and we see the girl getting wiped from his memory.

I thoroughly enjoy watching this music video due to its complexity and meaning, it is romantic yet sad, but it shows Jasons priorities in the girls safety which is endearing, fitting perfectly in a romantic music video.

The only dialogue is at the beginning, before the 'almost-tragedy', it's the last time they'll speak. There are only a few points where Jason is lipsyncing, and this takes place as he stands in a crowd of people moving in reverse. There are 3 key characters; Jason and his girlfriend, this is perfect as it narrows the focus of the video - no one else is important except for the third character, the texting driver, as if the girl wasn't going to be hit by this driver, there would be no video or narrative.

The most important location, tying the narrative and meaning together, is the park where the two first meet, however there are many other locations; the new bedroom, the street where the girl is about to get hit, and everywhere else the couple make memories, for example a kitchen eating desert and the bathroom, washing their dog. There are no credits.

Overall, I really love this music video, from the way its been made and the idea behind it to the story. The only thing I would change is to include more arty shots with more close ups and reaction shots, however I will take inspiration from this for my own music video in terms of meaning, and maybe even including some parts in reverse, as I really like the concept.

Effective Genres in Music Videos

Music videos (MV's) are in some ways completely different to short films. It can be more difficult to communicate a story due to the fact there's little or no dialogue, we purely have to rely on the lyrics and body language of actors to know what going on - and sometimes the lyrics don't appear to have obvious references to the narrative of the music video.

Due to all of this, some genres are more suited to music videos than others and although you could do a music video in all genres, some of them may be less effective.

Lets take one of the most popular songs of all time 'Thriller' - Michael Jackson. The music video is hugely popular, having over 250 MILLION views on Youtube. This is quite obviously in the horror genre however it is conducted in such a clever way through costumes and dances and a narrative that begins in a film, to reality, to that reality just being a dream, to that dream becoming a reality. I think the reason its so successful is because of this transition to different stages and the incredible narrative and thinking behind it. Its generally an entertaining thing to watch. However, I believe horror isn't always suited to music videos as its harder to incorporate moments of silence that build tension or sound effects due to the music in the background - that is unless the music itself is of a horror essence, which is rare.

The majority of the other genres are more suited to being a music videos than horror. The genre most suited to MV's would be romance. So many songs are about love in one way or another or can be interpreted to be so. Due to this there are many different romantic storylines and narratives that can be combined with any song in order to make a good music video. Examples include 'Boyfriend' - Justin Bieber, 'Call me maybe' - Carly Rae Jepson and 'DNA' - Little Mix.

I believe the documentary genre also fits in very well with music videos as they can tell a story from beginning to end about many different things through just observing what is happening in the video without needing dialogue. For example in Little Mix's Cannonball video, you can see their journey from auditioning for the X Factor to winning it, even though the lyrics to the song aren't directly related to what is happening. This also applies to the drama genre as themes in this also often include telling a dramatic story in detail, and music amplifies emotion therefore it works.

As far as mock-umentaries go in the music genre, they're more suited if you want the MV to be fun and lighthearted, they work well and can be linked with the comedy genre, however personally I enjoy music videos with some deeper meaning behind them more, due to this I'm not interested in linking my music video to the mock-umentary/comedy genres.

To conclude, the genres I'm most interested in combining my music video with are romance, documentary and drama. I want the music video I make to be enticing and somewhat uplifting and heart warming with a nice message behind it. Although these genres can be quite broad, I think they fit together nicely so now I will begin to develop my idea further and narrow my focus so that my narrative is exactly how I want it.

Genre Conventions in Music Videos

Horror

Themes: Themes in typical horror videos whether that be in film or music videos would usually be very graphic, often it starts as calm and gradually builds its suspense becoming scarier with possible unexpected turns. They may also be 'jumpy' having its audience on edge as they watch it.
Often, in horror films, there will be two victims rather than one against a villain and they are likely to form a relationship due to their vulnerability. In films there isn't usually a happy ending in these however I'm focusing on music videos and usually these are more light-hearted and fun. Typically in horror I would also expect there to be a cliff-hanger at the end.

Mise en scene: The lighting in horror films will often be dark and dim. Props can range from anything between knives to fake hand and arms, costumes will also be dark and overall have a tatted feel to them. The setting that comes to mind when I think of a horror is a graveyard, somewhere lonely and abandoned where 'no one can hear you scream'  as these are often places where victims are hurt

Types of characters: There is often at least one victim and perhaps their friend/lover/family member, with a villain who is after them. There may be some kind of a psycho-villain or monster which may be in an inanimate form but has come to life such as a clown, as many people fear these.

Target audience: The target audience will often depend on the artist of the music video as different artists attract different ages, however in saying that most artists stick to a particular genre and so their fans will listen to and watch whatever they produce. Artists that produce some horror videos often have fan-bases of people aged 20+ as its more suitable for that audience than younger children, for example.

Examples of music videos:

• Thriller - Michael Jackson
• Sweet Dreams - Marilyn Manson
• Enter Sandman - Metallica
• Never say Never - The Frey

Genres it works well with: Mystery, Thriller.

Romance

Themes: In a romantic music video a theme I would expect a story of a relationship, whether that's how two people met and fell in love, the process of the two falling in love, or even perhaps a breakup. I would also expect to see flashbacks and memories of one of the individuals showing their love for their significant other. In some music videos you will see the couple coming to breaking point as they fight and something or someone comes in between them, however it more often than not, ends well and they live 'happily ever after'.

Mise en scene: (lighting, props, setting)I would expect the scenery in romantic music videos to be very easy on the eye, with 'beautiful'/'incredible' views for example a soft and colourful sunset in the background, or a vibrant city with skyscrapers, or even a peaceful beach or country side. The scenery would be like this because the characteristics of these settings signify characteristics of a good relationships; happy, beautiful and peaceful. Also, places such as those mentioned above are types of places good memories can be made for the couple, e.g. ; walks on the beach.

Types of characters: A girl and boy in a relationship together, perhaps an ex girl/boyfriend and maybe even friends or family members that could come between the pair.

Target audience: People of all ages 16+ would most likely be able to appreciate a good romantic music video pulling at the heartstrings however the majority of the audience to these videos will be females. The audience will also depend on the narrative behind the video, if its about a mature romance and love then an older audience will be more inclined to watch it however if its about a younger love then, likewise, a younger audience will be attracted to it, such as in 'Everything has changed' by Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.

Examples of music videos:

• What If - Jason Derulo
• Thinking out loud - Ed Sheeran
• She Will be Loved - Maroon 5
• A thousand years - Christina Perri

Genres it works well with: Drama, Comedy, Teen

Comedy

Themes: Comedy music videos are very diverse in that everyone finds different things funny. Rather than films, music video comedies usually have a funny narrative that's easier to understand where the audience don't have to look too deeply into the joke to find it funny, also the narrative usually relates back to the lyrics of the song. Comedy films may contain a lot of adult humour, making it enjoyable however in music videos there's no dialogue, meaning body language and action has to be funny for example an awkward/standout dance routine like in Gangnam Style - Psy

Mise en scene: Comedies are also very diverse in terms of mise-en-scene. The setting can vary, if its a comedy about a relationship between neighbours then the setting may be in a neighbourhood such as in Carly Rae Jepson's 'Call me maybe'. However, if its a comedy music video about high school, it will be filmed in a class/canteen etc such as in 'Who's Laughing Now' by Jessie J. Usually it will be light-hearted and therefore light and upbeat with 'normal' costumes (daily life casual clothing) or outrageous costumes for funny dances.

Types of characters: boy/girl, parents, siblings, friends, and some kind of enemy of the main character for example an annoying little brother or a sly ex-friend.

Target audience: The target audience will vary depending on the type of comedy music video, if it is a comedy film about a relationship/breakup its likely the target audience will be teens/young adults, however if its just a generally funny video with an iconic dance such as Gangnam Style, all ages could enjoy it, as proven by Psy.
  
Examples of music videos:

• Gangnam Style - Psy, 
• Call me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepson,
• We are never getting back together - Taylor Swift,
• Who's laughing now - Jessie J

Genres it works well with: Romance, Teen and Musical.

Drama

Themes: Themes in dramatic music videos are that they often communicate however exaggerate realistic stories in order to emotionally affect the audience. Its important that the situations/narratives of these videos are realistic in order for the audience to feel connected to the story, for example a death of a loved one, conflict in a relationship or a tragedy such as the Titanic, which is linked to Celine Dion's 'My Heart will go on' . Often in drama music videos the story will be explained in detail from beginning to end however focusing more on feelings over what happened, unlike a film. This can be done through the use of body language and miming the lyrics. There is also usually a romantic element to them.

Mise en scene: (lighting, props, setting) This will depend on the narrative and storyline of the music video. If there has been a tragedy then the setting will be in the location the tragedy took place, however the lighting is usually dark to reflect the emotion of feeling low/upset.

Types of characters: man, woman, friends, ex lover, enemy

Target audience: Usually between the ages of 16-35 as they can often require mature intellect and this age range are considered the most interested in music culture although it doesn't discriminate against ages older than 35 as they could also be interested in this genre of music videos. These music videos are more likely to be aimed at a female audience however, also doesn't discriminate against males.

Examples of music videos:

• My heart will go on - Celine Dion
• Clown - Emili Sande
• If I were a boy - Beyoncé
• Back to Black - Amy Winehouse.

Genres it works well with: Romance, Teen,  Thriller/Adventure.

Documentary

Themes: In a documentary music video, I would expect to be told a true story that presents the realities of a certain topic for example, bullying or crime or somebodys life. I would expect to see a story or event unfold . The video should be delivered in a time-line style, where the events unravel. For example in Little Mix's Cannonball music video, you see their journey from auditioning for the x factor to winning it, or in Justin Bieber's "Beauty and a Beat" video you see a party at Justin's house from the start of the garden to the end.

Mise en scene: The lighting, props and setting really depend on the documentary and what it's about, for Justin's party video for example, I would expect everyone to be in 'dressy' outfits with party lights in a party environment with lots of people present. Props may include alcohol or cups etc, anything you would expect to be present at a party.

Types of characters: The main characters involved in these are the ones involved in the story/documentary. For 'Canonball', all of little mix were in it as well as their mothers supporting their journey, and the x factor judges as well as their competition.

Target audience: Music videos that are in a documentary style are very broad in terms of the audience they attract, however most often they document a part of the artist's life and so the target audience is the artists adoring fans who want to know everything about them. Therefore typically the age range may be from 12-25.

Examples of music videos:

• Cannonball - Little Mix
• Beauty and a Beat - Justin Bieber
• Am I Wrong -  Nico & Vinz.

Genres it works well with: Culture and Society.

Mocumentary

Themes: In a mock-umentary I would expect to see everything I have mentioned above in the documentary from the people that would feature in it to how the story would unfold. However the main theme here is comedy, a story will unfold however it will be told in a way that is comedic. The mocking may be to a certain extent rude or be seen as discriminatory, however the narrative behind them is often the artist being defensive or joking about themselves, for example in Taylor Swifts 'Blank Space' video, she subtly mocks the medias constant headlines that she is a 'crazy girlfriend' by playing that role. Another example is Katy Perry's 'last Friday night', a video where she is the nerd at a cool party, almost making fun of  people who are actually nerds.

Mise en scene: Like the documentary, the setting, costume, lighting and props will heavily vary depending on what the narrative is about, however these videos wont be 'deep' in any way, they will be quite light hearted therefore the lighting will often be lighter and costumes wont be too intense as they would perhaps in the fantasy or comedy genre.

Types of characters: I would expect to see some exaggerated or flamboyant characters for this mockumentary genre, such as Katy in 'Last Friday Night' or the boy in 'All About that Bass' confidently dancing. Most of the other characters would just be 'Normal' to emphasise the 'weirdness' or to draw even more attention to the 'abnormal' character that is being mocked or doing the mocking. Characters include, friends, bullies, boyfriend/girlfriends and perhaps family/parents depending on the narrative.

Target audience: I believe mocumentaries are to be taken less seriously, and because of this are aimed at a younger and 'more fun' audience, however the audience must also be able to understand the joke and what it is that's being mocked, therefore the age range is most likely 16-29

Examples of music videos:

• Blank Space - Taylor Swift
• Last Friday night - Katy Perry
• All about that bass - Meghan Trainor

Genres it works well with: comedy, society and culture.

Research and Planning in Class

In class today we carried out an exercise where many different photographs were printed and handed out to everyone in the class. Each one of us had to write three questions we had about the photo and pass it round and answer each others. After this, we passed them round again and had to come up with a plot synopsis based on the answers we saw to the questions on the back of the photo.

I ended up with a picture of a child looking through a glass window at an ape.

The questions and answers were as follows:

1) Why is the ape so moody?  'Because he had trouble with his side girls and he decided to take it out on  a small child'

2) Who took this? 'Mr Cole, while on tour with the boys'

3) What did the little girl think was happening? 'She thought the ape was princess peach, she assumed she was upset because Mario had been cheating on her with Luigi, behind her back. This child is crazy'

The film idea / plot synopsis I generated from this was...

The Ape has been taken from its true love in the wild and put in a zoo, he's been there for 3 lonely years and has finally decided its time to move on but as he tries to do this, the female Apes reject him which makes him both guilty and angry which leads him to take his anger out on the little girl.

The little girl thought the ape was a princess from a fairy-tale she read and she saw that the ape was lonely, so she starts speaking to him through the glass.

Some tourists see the exchange and laugh about it saying the girl's talking to an Ape that doesn't understand her, but later the girl and the Ape become friends as her dad works at the enclosure so she always visits, eventually she helps him escape.

In the end, the Ape reunites with his original lover and years later the girl goes on a safari in the wild, sees the Ape and he runs up to her and thanks her.

This would be an animated childrens film.
                     

Preliminary Task Feedback

I decided to gather feedback on my preliminary task by asking 5 people who watched it to write an anonymous note on a sheet of paper, this is what they said...

I'm really pleased with the comments made overall, the suggestion about including more types of relationships for the final piece is one I strongly agree with in order to make the video more interesting. The other constructive comment made was that 'home style' videos shouldn't take up the majority of the video - which is something I agree with too therefore overall, I'm happy.

When it comes to filming the main task, I want to continue using my DSLR, however I want to learn more about how to use it. I also want to use more equipment such as a tripod, to remove any shaking in clips etc - to make it more professional. I want to explore more with editing softwares too and see what else they can do other than let me put two clips next to each other.

Luckily, the preliminary task is just a practice round, getting me to grips with filming a music video, so I look forward to developing new skills and learning more, to make my music video a fantastic piece of work.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Preliminary Task

I have decided to make a music video for my preliminary task, here is the criteria:

• 1-3 characters
• either be either a narrative/montage or a live performance
• maximum of 3 locations
• include some form of sound other than music
• Just over a minute long

Below is my preliminary task.

I am happy with how my prelim task turned out however I know that theres a lot I want to improve on next year in terms of shooting and capturing moments properly, as well as editing. The concept behind my preliminary music video was basically a girl having a fun day out with her friends, later in the music video it would have shown she was going through some issues, and it would then tie in that her friends were there to help her out, and mean a lot to her. 

I used 3 characters in total for this, and chose the style for it to be a narrative/montage. I wanted to create a really authentic feel so decided the way to do this was by perhaps not being as professional and keeping the shots clean and cut, so that it looked like a 'home video' with the friends themselves taking the video/vlog to remember the day they had - for the parts in this style there is a 'recording' overlay, edited on top of the shot.

I used 3 locations, in the malls hallways/enterances, Boots store (in the mall) and Lisa Angel (also in the mall), and the sound other that music that I used is the edited camera shutter sounds I added onto the film in the editing process.

Overall, I am pleased with how my preliminary task turned out, and should I keep the same sort of idea for a narrative when it comes to making the real thing, I may use some of the shots - although like I said, this year I would like to improve my film making and editing skills before it comes to making my final piece/music video.

Content Decisions Based On Research

Based on my research into existing products I would like to go into producing a music video, this is because I want to branch out of filming films in order for a challenging change from last years AS project.

One reason in particular behind my decision is, when I filmed my AS film opening, I found that my camera would make a lot of noise whilst focusing, also, the actress would occasionally laugh or come out of character by talking, and as some of the opening didn't contain a voiceover, I had to very carefully edit certain scenes so that I was happy with the end product. Having a voiceover and deleting the original audio made the product appear much more professional and I found that it was easier to capture the actress' emotion through body language with alternative audio rather than through her acting, as she wasn't a professional and was quite nervous and shy. Due to this I have chosen the music video brief to avoid this problem in the future as I want the content I produce to be outstanding.

As well as this, I believe body language and actions are more powerful than words sometimes, and shots telling a story by these means alongside powerful lyrics combined, are something I believe can produce a strong narrative and music video of high standards.

Music is something everyone can connect to, its a part of daily life in todays society and I want my music video to be meaningful, therefore I believe the best way I can do so, is to go down the path of a music video.

I plan to work alone for this brief as it's important that the end result is outstanding, and I have some specific ideas and visions of what I would like the music video to include and I don't want to be distracted from my focused ideas. I would prefer to rely on myself and ensure I produce the film properly over anything else.

This year I want to improve my time management and organisation, last year I left the filming to the last minute due to having problems with trying to find times when me and the actress were available, I believe I could solve this by including other characters I can rely on in the music video instead of just one.

I was quite happy with the beginning of my film opening last year, it included many artistic shots I enjoyed both filming and watching, so I would like to include shots of the same quality or even higher quality in this years music video.

Something I'd like to do completely differently is to include a larger amount of characters, last year I only had one. I would also like to have no dialogue - hence my reasoning behind choosing a music video, as I don't want to risk the quality of the film being lowered due to the actors acting skills.

Overall, by the end of the year I would like to have produced an outstanding, artistic music video with a good narrative behind it and a meaningful song playing with expressive lyrics. I'm excited to make this content and am happy to accept the challenge of it!