Lyrics:
So you burned your last cigarette down in Hollywood
They say you took your dying breath down in Hollywood
They all wrote to say what a lonely life it was
I don't want you to fade, don't want you to fade away
I don't want you to fade, don't want you to fade away
So you spent the last of your rent down in Hollywood
They say there's no good people left down in Hollywood
We all have a chance when the devil screams down your throat Narrative ideas I can pull from the lyrics are:
A cigarette packet with one left being smoked
open fields
sunshine
slow motion
handheld camera
low angle shots
close ups on lips (sha la la)
money handed over at night in an alley on drugs (spent last of your rent)
eyes rolling back (fade away)
guy guitar playing (backing vocals)
car driving
camera pulls out to a film crew (Hollywood)
8/3/19 thoughts:
Sunshine isn't that vital anymore. I feel as though some B-roll footage would be a really nice idea. I got the inspiration by the song 'Lunch - Stella Donnelley'.
The first thing I notice that becomes prominent throughout is a red border. This sets up the genre and what connotations will be present. In this case, Danger. This is shown in the mise-en-scene as the singer is shown mentally distressed; not to mention he is singing about heavy and emotional events, such as fighting your own demons.
As the bass guitar plays the shots flicker on and off slightly out of time with the beat. So I thought that this could be an attempt to replicate the heartbeat instead. A studio performance, in the words of Andrew Goodwin, is shown of a fragmented band and the front man alone in a room where items have been thrown around and broken. The contrast of these two environments is quite apparent as the band is playing in an enclosed room with lots of red and black, including the drum sticks; whereas the front man is in light clothes in a light open room. I found this interesting as I thought the light room could be in his mind but if he's struggling with inner demons then it would be more appropriate to keep that area darker, like the room the band is in. However, this may be done on purpose so that an audience can differentiate between the two and this could also be signalling towards invisible mental illness. Although he looks normal on the outside, alongside the light clothes and how the connotations of lighter objects suggests better emotions; the darker clothes with the band allow him to let out his feelings and to not afraid of the animal that he has become.
Just before the chorus we see himself in demon form pinning down himself. Tipping a hat to the idea of night terrors. Overall, the chorus tries to help and show people that it's ok these things happen and there's always someone to help. "So what if you can see the darkest side of me". It's being able to be strong in a pressured situation and to be comfortable with who you are.
Another thing that I noticed, at 0:58 there's a shot where the camera is placed in a corner by the ceiling of the room. Similar imagery would be shown as a CCTV camera. This makes him look small and doesn't put him in a dominant position. This could also be shown to suggest that by making him look small, it shows society's views on mental illness being lesser than physical.
Throughout the video it's obvious that some of the footage is sped up and is very jumpy, again, notifying to the audience of mental health can be sporadic and unpredictable. Some of the footage present show the front man standing on turntable. the camera is positioned below him and tilted up, showing his dominance. The sped up footage is applied every so often and I really like this affect. I may wish to use something similar to my own work.
As he walks down the street he looks in a shop window and sees his demon. Showing off the idea that these affect people everywhere rather than just at home. Unfortunately, the people that walks into don't understand therefore, look on confused. As he looks back to check to see if the demon is still there in his reflection this may be because, even he is unsure of what is going on. In my opinion, this video really encapsulates how someone may experience mental illness is a respectable manor and pays tribute to the idea that you're never alone. In this case, it's his band mates who let him speak out and forget about it.
With the lyric "Somebody help me through this nightmare, I can't control myself". It links well with the video shown at the same time of him bumping shoulders with a stranger walking past. It shows that he's not aware what he's doing thus proving how much it affects someones day to day lifestyle.
These are some idea I have for asking questions for my survey regarding music video research and which genre and characteristics I should pursue.
What genre of music do you prefer? (rock, indie, punk, grime, hip-hop, other - please specify)
What concept/style of a music video do you prefer? (narrative, stage performance, studio performance, location, conceptual/experimental ((combination?))
Why do you prefer this style of music video is your preference?
Should what's being shown onscreen correlate to the lyrics? (yes or no and why)
Should the artist be shown onscreen during the music video (yes or no or sometimes, if sometimes then why?)
Do you like it when the miseducating-en-scene of the editing is timed to actions or the beat of the song? (yes or no and why?)
Do you like this song? (Hollywood by The Money War)
What sort of style/concept do you think would fit with this genre of song?
I plan to showcase these questions of SurveyMonkey and get my results soon
There are three main types of research techniques, these are:
Production research (Textual Analysis) – the researchconducted to inform the production process of a mediaproducteg.techniques, locations, genre etc.
Market research (Qualitative) – more thoroughinvestigation into the reasons why products areproduced and how they appeal to the consumers
Audience research (Quantitive) – the analysis ofwho consumes what media products and why
These types of research fall into two groups: Primary and Secondary. Primary is research found by interviews, focus groups and questionaries; whereas secondary is found online, books or copied from other sources. these are then referenced within the writing piece.
There are many techniques that can be employed when researching. However it is vital that you choose the right one to ensure that your information is:reliable and valid
Reliability = whether this can be trusted as a source of information. Could it be biased by people’s opinions or effected by flaws in their research methods? If this activity was done again, would it get the same results?
Validity = the relevance of information to your investigation. Can you determine that it proves what you think it does (ie. If an interviewee reveals something can you give a direct quote that backs this up?)
Different Types of Questionnaires
There are two main types of questions during the process of accumulating data. These are open and closed questions. For example, a closed question is a question that derives a yes or no answer. This keep its more to the point of the topic that is being focussed on. This sort of question in a questionnaire is quantitative as it offers easy to read data in form of charts or graphs and it doesn't contain any unwanted data as the audience is given a choice and therefore, cannot give any unwanted information. It also picks out patterns and trends. An open ended question is an attempt to get a deeper meaning, reasons and explanations for your audiences answers. This type of question focusses on a qualitative format and helps the researcher understand the reasons why they like something; rather than if they like it or not. Overall, when conducting my survey, I plan to use both open and closed question as quantitive and qualitative research complements each other and therefore, grants me access to a wider range of opinions.
Carol Vernallis 'The Kindest Cut' investigates and establishes editing techniques in the different methods found between music/film video editing. In her 2001 work she debates the impact of star image, the importance and function of editing in narrative meaning, how sound and image are synchronised through editing, the repetitive close-up shots of the artist in the music video and how the editing considers the music entirely.
Vernallis is an associate professor in the communications studies department at Wayne State University and her theory teaches students four main categories that she believes are the most vital notions that all link back to the way music was initially constructed. These four categories are:
Editing
Narrative
Diegesis
Camera Movement and Framing
Editing:
Editing and post production is often an important part of a music video and can even be relied on to be the basis of the actual music video , before any narrative. This can deflect from the limits of continuative editing, which goes against the convention that music video editing can break conventions of continuative editing. Vernallis argues that an edited music video has four different prominent conventions and topics, these are:
Juxtaposed frames
Breaking the 30 degree rule
Jump cuts
Cutting to lyrics or the beat of the music
Narrative:
Music videos are a visual response to the lyrics of the song or the narrative created by the music , thus meaning that regardless of what we see on the screen , it will reflect the narrative created by the lyrics of the song. The narrative can sometimes be left unfinished and this invites for the audience to have a more creative view of the music video as it would be left open for the audiences views. There is normally a main point to a music video, this all depends on the narrative. This could be told through the mise-en-scene in post editing or the music itself in terms of lyrics.
Diegesis:
In media, diegesis is a style of story telling which presents an interior viewer the world and that the world is experienced by character in situation and events the narrative, examples would be telling, recounting and enacting. Opposite to mimesis which to 'show', diegesis would be characterised by tributes such as:
Indirect speech
Narrating
citation
text on screen e.g. place name, time and dates. Which is a way that exposition is shown.
Reporting
Camera Movement and Framing:
Vernallis develops on the idea of establishing are a key feature when it comes to how a music video should be shot. They are used often as well as close ups of the band or individual objects that relate to the narrative or the lyrics. She also talks about 'master' or 'extreme' shots. This is when the camera is used for more than showing what's going on or in static mode; master shots is when the camera is used to help an audience feel as though they're in the middle of all of it. Such as tracking shots or how the camera moves in 'Childish Gambino - Sweatpants'.
Depending on the genre it can be more difficult to try and use these types of shots. Being able to frame them can also be shown in a certain way by having everything in shot done on purpose or just being used to the cinematographers advantage.
References:
Vernallis, C. (2020202) The Kindest Cuts: Functions and Meaning of Music Video Editing
"Entertaining proof that good sense means good theory. This book is the first to treat music TV as vision and sound. Academically, I had most fun applauding Andrew Goodwin's elegant skewering of postmodernists; as a rock fan I was constantly startled by Goodwin's experts of my most deeply held prejudices. I'm now convinced; there's much more to MTV than meets the eye"
Simon Frith - The John Logie Baird Centre
"Andrew Goodwin is associate professor of communication arts at the University of San Francisco. His criticism appears regularly in the East Bay Express, the San Francisco Bay Guardian and the Chicago Reader. He is co-editor, with Garry Whannel, of Understanding Television. He is a corresponding editor of the international communications journal Media, Culture and Society (MCS)"
References:
Goodwin, A. (1992) Dancing in the Distraction Factory (back cover)
In terms of narrative and performance most music videos fail to give the audience 100% of the narrative. The audience is only given parts of what the artist wanted to portray and get across. Therefore, any viewer is able to take a polysemic meaning from the text as it is negotiable. Andrew Goodwin explains that music videos should pay attention to a more abstract narrative as this is a near necessity for their brand and advertising. This is a contradicting feature that can take place in a music video as it doesn't either amplify or illustrate. However, some videos do focus on the narrative and do obey to characteristics such as 'illustrating'. These sorts of videos normally feature a breakup or an argumentative couple. This is shown by the lyrics taking about a couple going through a hard time metaphorically or blatantly.
For narrative and performance to work collectively I believe this would be more beneficial. Even though some artists have a brand that they must keep to and have to be a bit more vague when it comes to showing what they mean by the lyrics and actions that happen on the screen as they might prefer for their fans to take it in their own way. This way also creates a more polysemic and wider/vast meaning retrieved from fans. This way makes it easier for an audience to watch numerous times without losing interest as each time they do watch it, they might be able to uncover an alternate meaning. The artist appears as both narrator and participant astray help to increase the authenticity; however, when lip syncing or other timed actions due to the editing style of the mise-en-scene must still abide to the structure of a music video.
Five key aspects that an audience should look out for are:
Narrative and Performance
The Star Image
Thought beats (What do you see when the sound is played?)
Technical Aspects of a Music Video
Relation of Visuals to the Song
Looking at a Stars Iconography, it is clear that each artist have a unique way that they develop their videos. There are three main aspects that link well to the process of how music videos are made. These are: Branding, Style and Brand Values (the artists unique selling points).
