Blog post 8: My music video

In order to plan my music video, I first researched and analysed existing music videos to see the conventions and styles of pop music videos. This helped me develop my ideas for my music video while making sure I was being true to the pop genre by making sure my video adhered to the conventions in order to anchor representations about the star identity and ethos. 

Analysis of George Ezra- 'Shotgun'

The music video uses disjuncture in its editing so that the audience can't predict what is going to happen next and so keeps the audience interested. Conventionally the music video is focused around the artist. Instead of focusing on a narrative, the music video is performance based. It is more unusual but not unconventional. The simplistic video allows the audience to focus on the artist and the lyrics as the video offers little interpretation of the lyrics. There are also subtitles which suggests he wanted the focus to be on the lyrics. Warm tones and colours are used to compliment the warm tones of the song.

captions occasionally fit surroundings which helps keep audience attention

same as ^ but also shows use of warm tones and colours

The music video allows the audience to get 'intimate' with the artist, through the eye constant eye contact and the focus on Ezra throughout which shows means that his quirks and personality comes through . There are multiple set ups that are inter cut but all are of George Ezra stood in front of a background singing.

Later in the video you see Ezra doing little dances and quirky facial expressions that highlight the upbeat, fun nature of the song. A lovable, dorky guy is presented in George Ezra and you can't help feel your heart warming as the joyful song plays in the background. The eye contact that is present throughout almost all of the video makes the audience feel like they are being serenaded and that the music video is almost a personal message from the artist. It makes it seem like he is singing to you.

props used

camera shots not stagnant- zoom in and out

The intercutting between set ups make sure that the audience don't get bored and as the video goes on and George Ezra adds more facial expressions,lets loose, dances and shots zoom in and out, props are added and more set ups are added. The set up that the video spends most time focused on is the one of George Ezra singing in front of a crowd. It creates a sense of community and feels like he really values his fans. You can hear them chanting the song along with him and this strengthens the sense of community and joy that people get from the song and so makes you more joyful in turn. The image also blurs between him and the crowd and so suggests to the audience that he values them as much as himself in the video, which makes him more likeable.

Crowd in focus

George Ezra in focus

There are very few representations of race, gender, ideologies and relationships as the video is so basic and only focuses on him and an anonymous crowd.

he is seen having AUTHENTIC fun- suggests he is always like this

Overall he comes across as real, fun and close to his fans.He puts across the image that he doesn't need a crazy video or elaborate narrative to tell his songs story and that he just wants to have fun with it and in turn just wants the audience to have fun with it. He doesn't seem to take himself too seriously and his personality comes across in the video which makes audiences feel closer to him.

sense of community

For my own video, I would like to incorporate the following things:

• the fun, easy going character he puts across
• the way he doesn't need elaborate set ups and mise en scene to create a clear star identity and come across as fun
• want to use the intercutting editing technique where you intercut between set ups but the people don't seem to move- maybe in a dance routine etc.
• clear star persona thorough performance
• the authentic vibe that makes you like him as an artist - he isn't superficial
• the way he builds throughout the video
• have fun with it
• put my own character into to video 

Analysis of Ariana Grande - 'Thank You, Next'

       

Very conventional pop music video. Uses conventional techniques such as: bright colours that grab your attention, multiple set ups,title cards, references to pop culture and intertextuality references 90s chick flicks. By remaking iconic, key scenes from films such as 'Mean Girls' and 'Legally Blonde' Ariana appeals to 90s nostalgia and also gratifies the audience when they recognise the intertextual references. Familiar settings are used to appeal to a younger audience who might not be familiar with the films. 

intertextuality with Legally Blonde- original actress from film

iconic mean girl scene

There are a huge variation of shots and lots of beauty shot CUs. The star studded cast is also highlighted through the use of shots, as every time a new celebrity appears a close up is used to introduce them. 

beauty shot- looks glamorous

Celebrities such as Kris Jenner and Troye Sivan who are recognisable to a mass audience. Celebrities that are recognisable by a whole range of age groups are used in order to attract a mass audience. For example Colleen Ballinger- a YouTuber and Matt Bennett and Elizabeth Gilles who stared on the Disney Channel and so might be recognisable to a younger audience.

Star Studded cast

Some of the cast are Easter eggs themselves, such as Jennifer Coolidge who was in the original 'Legally Blonde' film. Also Matt Bennett and Elizabeth Gillies starred alongside Ariana Grande in Victorious before her singing carer. If fans notice this 'reunion' they might feel like they have been let onto a secret of sorts and so part of a community who understand the reference. They feel special because they feel they know more about the artist than others and so part of an exclusive community. The same goes for the ' Burn Book' in the video( Mean Girls reference) which has easter eggs about Ariana's life-references Pete Davidson (her ex) in the book.

easter egg about her past relationships

The lighting is soft and sleek and gives the video a glossy look. This adds to the glamorous image that Ariana is already strongly portraying through the use of elaborate set ups and extreme attention to detail. Also Ariana looks glamorous in every set up and has perfect make up on in all of them.

she is empowered by herself - don't need a man

The video shows many different representations with a range of genders, races and sexuality and femininity- she is sexualised but also doesn't need a man, she does it for herself . Not many actual relationships are shown but the easter eggs such as the burn book allude to them in the real world.


Most of the films referenced are films where a girl longs after a guy but realises her own self worth and takes back her own power. They are all also romantic comedies or chick flicks. This amplifies the lyrics about relationships.

For my own video, I would like to incorporate the following things:

• intertextuality to iconic films
• mise- en-scene
• easter eggs
• title card
• mass market appeal
• diverse representations

Sir Sly- 'High'

Although it isn't conventionally pop I like the use of 'stage hands'/ people that act as scenery and the slow reveal of them. Adds another dimension and is quite funny. Would like to do something similar in my music video.

slow reveal of stage crew being used to create set up- being used as a chair, creates humour

Planning

My pre-productions meant that I could focus on the productions side of my music video, make her sure there were no technicalities and that my initial idea was properly conveyed and that it represented my artist and their ethos. The planning allowed me to structure and properly organise my time both during and when not shooting, so that I had time to find costumes, make props and properly structure my production so that I knew I would have enough coverage and that it would all go smoothly.

Initial idea 1

Initial idea 3

Initial idea 2

My favourite idea was the first. I made an alteration to the idea which was that the decades were not explicit and so instead of doing the 80s explicitly I could just focus on disco, or do old fashioned instead of the 20s or 30s.

I then made a list of different themes and dance scene ideas that I had in my head and that I could think of.

A lot of the themes/ set ups that I wanted such as prom, disco and 60s type dating show ended up being hand in hand with a lot of iconic dance scenes, such as the Grease Prom, 60s Dating show similar to the Hairspray ' Just Can't Stop the Beat' closing song' and pulp fiction dance diner dance competition scene.

stills from iconic dance movie scenes

So, as I wanted my couple to be dancing in each set up anyway, I decided to change my decade idea to intertextuality with different iconic dance scenes from films.  I then created a basic narrative for the video:

I chose to do 5 different film scenes to be intertextual with and planned to film them all in the school studio and other locations around school.

I then went to the teacher to ask about certain technicalities and to get feedback  for the idea. The feedback was to make sure I was properly following the brief and to make sure I had enough locations and that she didn't really recommend doing too many in school. I realised this was true and so decided to change all my intertextual dance scenes. The change also meant that my performance bed which is shot in the school studio. would be more distinct when up against shots from outside.

So I had to go back and think of new iconic intertextual references to use:

In the end I decided on:

• the Footloose opening scene with the dancing feet

• the final scene in Grease- ' You're the one that I want'

• The title dance from Singing In The Rain

• La La Land - 'A Lovely Night'

They are all iconic and so recognisable by a large audience. The is the use of a more recent film- La La Land to appeal to both older and younger audiences ( so that if 16 year olds don't recognise the others, they will recognise La La Land), and iconic scenes from hugely popular films that are instantly recognisable such as Grease, Footloose and Singing In The Rain that the majority of the older end of my target audience are sure to understand.

My research influenced this as just like in Ariana's ' Thank You Next' music video where she uses a range of references and celebrities so that a larger audience can spot and understand references in her music video, meaning it will attract more of a mass market audience ( which I have to do to). In the same way I will use older films that are iconic as well as a newer film, just to make part of the target audience is cut off.

I also wanted to add an inter cut scene, similar to the one used in 'Shotgun' by George Ezra, where the background and costume changes but it doesn't look like the people are. So the main focus remains constant but the surroundings change. For this, I decided to do the main 

dance routine from the Grease prom scene (which is the hand jive) as the set ups inter cut between Grease, La La Land and Singing In The Rain. This added an intertextual easter egg to my video for fans that recognised the dance.

My intertextuality means that my audience get a sense of familiarity from the video. It also means that certain ideas are already established in the audiences mind when they recognise the films and so they help amplify my narrative and themes. All the scenes are scenes with dancing incorporated and so they amplify my lyrics and the theme of dancing. They are all from films within the romance genre and so this will help establish the relationship between my two protagonists from early on. 

The familiarity is also useful as I intend to break away from the references and make them my own and so when I do the break is more distinct as the audience expects it to go another way.

Inspired by 'High' by Sir Sly' I wanted to add a second layer to my video, in which the camera reveals the behind the scene aspect of the video which show the stage hands and create humour. Also due to minimal budget I didn't want to try and fail to make my references as accurate as possible and instead make the video fun, more unique and add more of my artists fun, creative, laid back, down to earth personality into the video.

Ideas for behind the scenes aspect of video

Final Interpretation

So for the final interpretations for my song I decided on a couple dancing in different set ups that were intertextual with iconic dance scenes from iconic films such as Grease.The films would be signified through setting, outfits and iconic imagery. I would add my own spin on the references and have fun with it. Throughout the video, behind the scenes aspects of the filming are shown to create humour and convey my artists brand identity as well as make the references his own. For the narrative aspect I would have the girl seem grumpy at first and gradually become more loose and happy as the video goes on. So it is a very performance based video. I also want a strong performance bed that portrays a fun, charismatic artist and looks professional- shot in studio.

So I wrote down the narrative flow and then wrote it again in a more structured way.

I made mood boards about each key component of my music video in order to get inspiration:

Singing In the Rain

Grease 

Footloose 

La La Land

These helped me find key iconic imagery from each film that make it recognisable.It also enabled me to take inspiration for settings and costumes.

Behind the scenes theme

I looked at behind the scenes inspiration in order to help me develop my ideas for this theme. I am intending to create parodies of the intertextual scenes to create humour, create a surrealistic text and convey my artists ethos. 

A look into behind the scenes in film and video

I decided that I didn't need the breaking of the music video realism in every intertextual reference as it might be too much. So I decided to just do it in Singing in the Rain and Grease.

For singing in the rain I took inspiration from a viral video from 2011 that was posted to Youtube:

I liked the idea of having someone use a hose to create a rain effect, and then panning or zooming out to reveal them after setting up the singing in the rain intertextual reference. Adds humour after audience is gratified by recognising the intertextual reference and so keeps the audience entertained. Also gives me a way of introducing the love interest. It also takes the reference and adds a spin. 

So in my music video I will establish the Singing In The Rain intertextual reference and then reveal the love interest holding the hose who looks bored and grumpy. The protagonist/ Oli will then ask her to dance.

For Grease I will use the iconic Shake Shack imagery from the film to incorporate my behind the scene theme.

I want have two stage hands who are just out of shot, dressed in black, holding the two shake shack boards that will be in shot that I will create using cardboard and yellow paper. i will have the two stage hands, move the boards in unison to create the imagery from the film. I will then zoom out to reveal the two stage hands moving the boards. 

This theme of breaking expectations and not setting your expectations too high ties into my artists mental health campaign. Especially with the prevalence of social media in today's society, young people often set expectations up for things and can be disappointing or try to hard to be something/ someone that they can never be because the person that posted the content is only displaying certain parts of their life. By taking an intertextual reference and not trying to copy it exactly it shows to my audience that you shouldn't try to be anyone else and that it' impossible to recreate something that someone else has because we are all unique and so it is just better to show off your own personality because everyone is unique and special.

Paperwork planning:

To make sure everyone was able to get their shots in time and that everything ran smoothly meaning that no shots were rushed and all looked as professional as possible:

Shoot schedule for my performance bed

Used to make sure I had all the shots I needed which meant that my narrative was clear and could be understood through visuals, It also helped me plan which shots were most important and think about what I needed each cast member to be doing, as well as the logistics of filming certain shots.

Story Board

To make sure that I had reliable actors that wouldn't bail on me and so I could tell them what I wanted in advance and so everyone could find the right costume. I will be using a cast that is part of my target audience, so that my target audience can identify a part of themselves in the video. So all my actors will be within the 16- 25 year old age group. I will represent a diverse cast to represent my mass market target audience. Represent males and females as well as different races.

Cast list

 Useful as as I had to find locations that were most suitable for filming and the shots I needed. It also helped me plan the framing and movement that would be suitable and look good in the locations:

Location Recce

Risk assessment

Street:

•  in the road and so need to watch out for cars - wear high vis clothing whenever possible.
• watch out for pedestrians when shooting on the pavement - be aware
• be careful with camera and water - hold an umbrella over the camera and don't point the hose at the camera or place the camera down on a wet surface.
• dancing on wet pavement and filming on wet pavement - be careful not to slip

Ally Pally:

• watch out for pedestrians when shooting on the pavement - be aware
• public space - don't leave belongings out without supervision

North Enfield Recreation Ground:

• watch out for pedestrians when shooting on the pavement - be aware
• hold camera firmly if getting on any of the rides with it
• go early in order to avoid kids in playground

Weather reports for the three days I was filming. Used to determine the best days and time of day to film as well as plan for possible outcomes such as rain:

My pre-production planning was extremely important as it refined my ideas and allowed me to focus on the technicalities of my music videos. My research and analysis introduced me to new ideas and helped me identify the conventions of pop music videos which I was able to input into my planning. My planning allowed me to consider setting, location, themes, look and feel and shot framing, angles and camera movement, This made my filming go smoothly and meant everyone was well prepared.