Music Video Treatment

Modern Winter is a local band that plays mainly rock music. I approached them on the subject of appearing and performing the song for my music video and they agreed. For this, I allowed them to choose the song that they wanted a music video as I was quite happy to create a music video with whatever song I was given. In the music industry, directors do not ask artists to create a video of a particular song, they get hired by the producers to make a video of the song the producers want making. Using this ideal, the band gave me their song “Free” to use.

“Free” is about making the most of life and not letting it pass you by. That is the message that I have got to create within the music video and the best way of doing that is to create a performance and narrative based video. The performance based part of the video will hopefully take place on a semi-professional stage as that is the most authentic location for the band, however, I may shoot a lot of my video outside because of lines like “Wake up baby smell the fresh air where” in the song. This would then link into the narrative aspect of the video, for which I have the idea of a girl walking through a field in an incredibly cliché way. She might bend down to smell the flowers and look like she’s in paradise. In an ironic fashion, the visuals will be suggesting that paradise is just a dream and to wake up from that dream and make that dream part of reality.

The video will attempt to make use of a dynamic camera, even if the speed is slower than expected so that it matches the speed of the song. Pans and tracks will be used alongside static shots like in the Foo Fighters’ ‘The Pretender’ video, even if it is at a much slower pace.

The visuals will be neither black and white nor full colour. They will instead be muted in the band’s segments, like in Air Traffic’s ‘No More Running Away'. This will make these segments seem like a dim look on reality in comparison to the bright and airy narrative scenes (Reminiscent of the first minute of this: Child of Eden Intro).

I may also utilise some intertextuality to reference the 2011 film ‘Sucker Punch’, through using a similar method of scene change between ‘reality’ and the dream world. In ‘Sucker Punch’, the main character is seen in close up, before she closes her eyes and the camera turns around her, swapping one location with the next after the turn. This would be an interesting shot and would make the video memorable even if many do not get the reference.

Still, the key of the video will be memorability. The best videos are the ones that are unique enough to be remembered and that is what I am going to attempt to do. Whether or not it is a success is a different matter, but if I can include numerous unique elements in the video then it will surely be better than if that was never a goal to begin with.

Foo Fighters "The Pretender" Textual Analysis

Camerawork


This particular music video has a very dynamic but abrupt camera. This easily adds an incredible pace to the video and by having the camera move to the beat of the track; it creates a rebellious tone within the video through the fury of the pacing. The unusual abruptness also adds to this rebellious tone. This anti-authoritarian styling is most likely an attempt to attract that subculture to the band like Dick Hebdige theorises.


There are also lots of close ups of the band, although the close ups mainly focus upon lead singer, Dave Grohl. This is typical of music videos as it promotes the 'star image' that Richard Dyer so fervently believes in. However, the close-ness of the close ups makes the shouting singing seem more stand-offish and this is exacerbated by the mise-en-scene and the tracking long shots.

Editing
This music video also makes use of the 'fast cut montage' which renders "many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing thus ensuring multiple [viewings]" (Pete Fraser, Teaching Music Video (BFI, 2004)). The fast cutting is perfect for the tempo of the song and quickens the pace of the video dramatically. Very few of the shots last longer than three seconds, with most being shorter than one second and this is what gives the video its sense of speed.

The cuts are also edited to the beat, and this, along with the speed of the video, amplifies the anti-authoritarian and rebellious tone of the video.
Mise-en-scene

The Mise-en-scene in this video is incredibly interesting. The entire video takes place within an abandoned aeroplane hangar with a large black line separating the band from the rest of the hangar and a large red wall behind them. The line and the hangar provide a sense of isolation which is exacerbated when the mass of riot officers appear at the line. This creates a confrontational feel to the video and the riot officers in particular suggest the rebellious feelings against the government.

The red wall has connotations of danger and also acts like a matador's cape in the bull ring for the riot officers. By having it explode and flood the hangar with red water it symbolises the fight against the government whilst also providing a thrilling and memorable climax to the video which would most certainly ensure multiple viewings.

Ellie Goulding's "Your Song" Textual Analysis

Camerawork
As with most music videos, "Your Song" has lots of close-up shots of Ellie Goulding lip-synching. The major close up shots create an intimacy with the artist which is furthered by the intimate nature of the song.

                

These close ups also "[emphasise] half of the commodity on sale (not just the song, but the artist, and particularly the voice)" as Pete Fraser states in his book "Teaching Music Video". (BFI, 2004)

The static close-ups are only one part of the video. The other part is made up of various shots of Ellie Goulding having fun with friends. All of the shots include her and they fit into her "sweet girl" image which has been "constructed from a range of materials" (Richard Dyer, 1979) and culminates in this video.

The handheld camera shots have been used to look like the videos are home-made or amateurish to make Ellie feel more real and attainable than the more cinematic videos of Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. They also amplify the song's message and including the audience. The home-made styling makes the audience feel as if they filmed those shots and it really makes it seem like Ellie Goulding is singing the song to them and not to someone else.

Editing
Despite being a slow paced acoustic song, the music video contains many shots that are little more than a second long and with the longest shot barely reaching five seconds in length. This fits in with Steve Archer's thoughts on the technical aspects of music video in his "How to Study Music Videos" article (Media Magazine, February 2004)by having a certain speed to the editing with fast cutting and montage editing which "creates a visually decentred experience necessary for music video consumption." The speed of the editing could also represent how fast life flows by; after all, the lyrics do talk about "how wonderful life is, now you're in the world."

The video also cuts directly to the beat and this is something else that Steve Archer believes to be an "essential part of music video". By doing this, the video has a wonderful flow which never feels jarring and this also adds to the image of life that the fast-cut editing produces.

Mise-en-scene
One of the most obvious features of the video is the bright light on Ellie Goulding's face during the close ups.

This particular effect of the lighting makes her seem angelic and really adds to her 'star image' of the 'sweet girl' which is furthered by her sensible clothing. She seems both realistic and out of most peoples' league through the juxtaposition of the bright angelic light and her very normal costume.

The light also casts a romantic glow which really amplifies the intimacy of the song and depicts
the authenticity within the song which is exactly what music video directors strive for as emphasises the star image and the realness of the message in the song.

Shot by Shot Analysis

All music videos should follow general codes and conventions. One of the most effective ways of seeing whether this theory holds any truth is to do a shot by shot analysis of a music video.

For this task the music video for the Genki Rockets 2010 song "Make.Believe" as it is unique in being the world's first 3D and fully CGI music video which was presented at Sony's "make.believe" concert making the Genki Rockets the first band to ever host a live 3D concert. However, for it to be a music video it should follow the codes and conventions laid out by theorists and should be obvious in the shot by shot analysis.

Track: Make.Believe                            Artist: Genki Rockets                             Date: 2010

Shot number	Shot type	Shot length	Description	Edit to next shot
1	Close Up	4s	Zoom of woman’s face initially silhouetted then brightened by CGI neon lights	Straight Cut
2	Close Up	2s	Side of woman’s face. Entire body spinning.	Straight Cut
3	Close Up	4s	Front of woman’s face with the words Genki Rockets appearing and blowing away	Straight Cut
4	Long Shot	11s	Woman encased in the neon lights slowly spinning	Graphic match fade to eye
5	Extreme Close Up	4s	Zooming out from an eye	Straight Cut
6	Close Up	11s	Woman in white dress lip synching	Straight Cut
7	Mid Shot	4s	Woman blowing in the wind	Straight Cut
8	Long Shot	12s	Woman glowing brightly and floating down to land	Straight Cut
9	Extreme Close Up	1s	Her feet landing	Straight Cut
10	Extreme Close Up	1/2s	Her feet landing	Straight Cut
11	Extreme Close Up	1s	Her feet landing	Straight Cut
12	Long Shot	5s	Woman screen right watching birds fly off into the distance	Straight Cut
13	Mid Shot	5s	Overhead Shot of woman lip synching and pointing to camera	Straight Cut
14	Long Shot	1s	Woman pointing up to sky as lights explode around her	Straight Cut
15	Long Shot	1s	Light flying into sky and exploding	Straight Cut
16	Long Shot	6s	Woman lip synching in a forest	Straight  Cut
17	Long Shot	8s	Woman lip synching in a forest	Straight Cut
18	Long Shot	7s	Overhead Shot of woman lip synching with CGI fish flying through the air	Straight Cut
19	Mid Shot	6s	Woman lip synching as fish swim through air around her	Straight Cut
20	Long Shot	9s	Woman lip synching but with major focus on the tree	Straight Cut
21	Long Shot	7s	Fish swimming through the trees	Straight Cut
22	Long Shot	7s	Woman in space lip synching	Straight Cut
23	Close Up	8s	Woman in space lip synching	Straight Cut
24	Long Shot	2s	Woman looking at the rose petals around her as background fades to white	Straight Cut
25	Long Shot	3s	Rose petals floating up into the sky	Straight Cut
26	Long Shot	8s	Woman in a chapel lip synching but far away	Straight Cut
27	Long Shot	6s	Painting of a castle with birds flying past	Straight Cut
28	Mid Shot	5s	Overhead Shot of Woman lip synching to screen	Straight Cut
29	Long Shot	12s	Overhead shot of Woman leaping up and flying as the CGI background flashes by	Straight Cut
30	Mid Shot	5s	Side view of Woman flying and lip synching	Straight Cut
31	Long Shot	4s	Point of View Shot of CGI buildings passing by	Straight Cut
32	Long Shot	3s	Woman flying through the air	Straight Cut
33	Mid Shot	7s	Woman flying through the air lip synching	Straight Cut
34	Extreme Close Up	3s	Woman’s hand reaching out to grasp something	Straight Cut
35	Long Shot	8s	Woman leaping into the screen as background changes rapidly	Straight Cut
36	Mid Shot	8s	Zooming in on woman reaching towards viewer	Flash/Jump Cut
37	Close Up	4s	Woman still reaching out to viewer	Flash
38	Long Shot	10s	Woman leaping into the screen as the background changes	Straight Cut/Flash
39	Mid Shot	1/3s	Woman reaching out to viewer	Straight Cut/Flash
40	Mid Shot	1/3s	Woman reaching out to viewer	Straight Cut/Flash
41	Mid Shot	1/3s	Woman reaching out to viewer	Straight Cut/Flash
42	Long Shot	7s	Woman smashing through a nebula	Straight Cut
43	Long Shot	3s	Woman in white dress singing to woman in neon lights	Straight Cut
44	Mid Shot	4s	Woman in white dress singing	Straight Cut
45	Long Shot	5s	Back of woman in white with large face of woman in neon lights singing	Straight Cut
46	Long Shot	10s	Zoom in on woman in white singing	Flash
47	Close Up	2s	Overhead of woman singing	Straight Cut
48	Long Shot	4s	Overhead of woman singing whilst zooming out	Straight Cut
49	Long Shot	3s	Woman singing at a cliff edge	Straight Cut
50	Mid Shot	5s	Woman singing to camera as it spins around her	Flash
51	Mid Shot	3s	Spin around woman singing under Northern lights	Straight Cut
52	Long Shot	2s	Woman singing under Northern lights	Straight Cut
53	Long Shot	2s	Woman singing in a desert	Straight Cut
54	Long Shot	2s	Closer up of Woman singing in a desert	Straight Cut
55	Long Shot	3s	Zoom in of Woman singing on water	Straight Cut
56	Mid Shot	5s	Woman singing to the camera before disappearing to dust	Straight Cut
57	Long Shot	4s	Lights flying up from the cliff top	Straight Cut
58	Close Up	7s	Close up of Earth as light flies into space	Straight Cut
59	Close Up	7s	Woman in space holding the Earth	Straight Cut
60	Close Up	8s	Close up of woman in space’s face as neon lights slowly disappear.	End

As can be seen, this music video follows a lot of the major codes of music videos with mainly straight cuts and lots of close ups. However, "Make.Believe" was advertising Sony's 3D capabilities as well as the Genki Rockets and this could explain why there are so many long shots although this has been something that is used in lots of the Genki Rockets' videos. Also, a lot of the shots are quite long, but this is most likely down to the slower pace of the song.

However, there are other videos that break with codes and conventions too.
These include:
OK Go's "Here We Go Again" video was one shot for the entire video:

OK Go's "Last Leaf" does not include any form of lip synch or performance, it is simply a narrative told through toast:

Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" which is like a short teen film with a music video in the middle:


However, in recent years, artists have been trying to push the boundaries of creativity and as such are more willing to break codes and conventions than artists in the 60s.