LDN by Lily Allen- Ska-pop
Shot Types: Throughout LDN a variety of different shot types are used- for example close ups are used throughout the piece as a way to get the audience to focus more on Lily's face to make her more recognisable as an artist, so that her different reactions and emotions can be seen as the piece goes on which helps the audience connect and empathise with her more. Medium shots are also used to let for a similar reason to the close-ups except this time more of Lily can be seen while still making her a more recognisable face to audiences . A wide shot is used not only for most of the establishing shots in the video but also for many other shots as a way of letting Lily (or other characters) take up the length of the frame while also being able to show lots of the background so we can see how it changes between how Lily sees London and how London really is. Point of view shots are used to show that it is the better version of London that is Lily's perspective, rather than the real one. At the beginning of the music video there is an (admittedly one-sided) conversation so both mid shots and over the shoulder shots are used to simulate the idea of a conversation going on between the people in the video.
Editing: Within the beginning conversation scene shot/reverse shots are used so the audience can see both sides of the conversation and also makes the audience assume the characters are looking at each other as they talk. The video is edited so that shots of the fantasy London are replaced by shots of the real London with the same left to right wipe each time, with a rainbow visual effect added in post production as a border between the shots, which helps to emphasise the contrast between the shot of fantasy and the shot of real London. Both shots of London are also graphically matched so that we can tell we are still seeing the same scene, just from different points of view. Post production was also used to edit the colours of the shots- making the real London shots consist of mainly darker colours (except for Lily, although her colours are also darkened) where as the colours were make extra vibrant in the fantasy London, with some things made to sparkle and some things were animated to create further contrast between the two realities. The most common cut used in the video was a jump cut which helped it run smoothly and continue as if uninterrupted.
Mise en Scene (costume, props and setting): The scenes set in real London are often grey and deteriorating and they are often a lot simpler, giving them a gloomy and depressing feel, scenes set in fantasy London have a very colourful and clean look about them and they are often more surreal, containing unusual colours and fantasy objects, creating feeling of wonder and excitement. The same location is chosen for both London's, props which Lily sees on the street are often positive in fantasy London such as a magician's wand and negative in real London such as a used needle. All of this is done to help create further contrast between the two London's. Most people in the real London's costumes are casual, tracksuits and menacing looking hoodies with greyish makeup that makes them look almost sickly, people in fantasy London are dressed much more smartly, often in suits and dresses, there make-up is done to look healthy. The only person who's costume and make-up does not change is Lily's, to continue to make her look recognisable and show that she exists in both worlds. She wears a long red dress which looks as if it belongs more in the fantasy London and large hoop earrings which look more like they belong in the real London to help with this idea. The red of the dress gives the idea that Lily is in love and that is why she is seeing London in a better way than it really is, she is feeling more romantic and this causes her to put on a dress that does not match the record store or real London. Although her costume remains the same it seems to literally glow in fantasy London, while looking older and much duller in the real London.
Camera movements and angles: Within most of the shots in the video the camera either pans or a tracking shot is used to follow Lily in a flowing way as she moves around London. It seems that most of the London shots are filmed using a tripod or steadicam so that the audience can take in a clearer scene so it is easier for them to see what the (real or fantasy) London looks like, whereas the shots in the record store seem to be filmed either by a handheld camera or my using shaky cam as the shot often moves about, helping create the idea of the jumble and confusion there should be inside the store. The video seem to have been shot without any unusual angles, but this in itself is unusual for a music video.
Lighting: Different types of lighting are frequently used to create a variety of different effects throughout the music video for example naturally lighting from a cloudy day is used to light the real London scenes and natural light from a sunny day is used to light the fantasy London scenes causing real London to be lit with a fainter grey light while fantasy London is lit with strong, bright sunlight. Artificial lighting is used inside the record store to make it look more authentic but this also makes it look strange and cold. Fill lighting is used within all the around London shots- to darken shadows and colours in real London and to brighten the shadows and colours in fantasy London.
How the band is represented and how the video connects with the target audience:
Lily is represented as a young, in love woman who seems to only see the best in the world but is proven to also be fairly normal- seeing the real London eventually, kicking a bin bag when she gets angry, and she seems to know a lot about and enjoy music from her in depth knowledge of it from her beginning dialogue and the way she is in an alternative looking record store. Her choice of dress for the grungy looking record store helps to show her as a quirky person. It is this alternativeness created from Lily's behaviour at the beginning and end of the piece and the setting in the real London such as the record store which should appeal to the ska fans as ska by itself is not an overly popular genre so an alternative looking music video may help attract an alternative minded audience. It is the bright colours of the fantasy London which are more typical of pop music videos that may help bring in the pop audience. Lily being a young woman in her twenties attracts this audience and the use of good make-up and costume to improve her appearance may also help to attract males in their twenties, and also helps to enhance the ideas of liveliness and vibrance which come across in most pop videos.
Applying Goodwin's theory:
- Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
Not many Ska videos are made due to it being a very niche market but when they are made they are often low budget or appear to be low budget and as the music video takes place mostly on ordinary streets which could be anywhere and in a record store which could have been done in a real record store but with the sign changed this video had the potential to be very low budget. However as it is a ska pop video it is likely that the pop convention of having fairly expensive music videos may have affected this, meaning that the streets and record store may have been a set. The large amount of background actors, having to shoot many of the scenes multiples times for both fantasy and real London, the brief animation, and the work done in editing to show the two London's together also suggest that this music video had the large budget associated with pop music videos. As a ska pop video LDN shows both the colourfulness which is often shown in pop videos through the fantasy London and the more dark and grungy colours associated with ska videos. With ska videos the costume of the star is usually a bit different from the usual fashion whereas in pop videos it is common for the characters to wear whatever is fashionable at the time, both of these can be see in Lily's costume as she wears a dress which would not normally be worn as everyday clothes and trainers which are or look similar to the kind which were popular at the time. - There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.
LDN's lyrics are constantly illustrated throughout the music video as almost everything she sings is acted out on screen, with the line of the chorus "when you look with your eyes everything seems nice, but when you look twice you can see it's all lies" being amplified throughout the video through showing a fantasy and real London. The images of the fantasy London contradict the lyrics meant for real London and vice versa although they are rarely seen together. - There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music.
The tune of the music in LDN is very cheerful sounding with instruments often associated with celebration being used such as trumpets, this helps to amplify the happy tone and atmosphere of fantasy London but heavily contradicts the grim reality atmosphere and tone shown in the real London. - The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). As I have mentioned before their are many close-ups of Allen throughout with a majority of all the shots overall having Lily in them or seeing them. In this video we can see an example of a common motif of her music which is to create songs in the ska genre. We can also see examples of her using a deep London accent within her dialogue and within her singing which she uses in many music videos, and the liberal use of crude words within the lyrics which appear within many of her songs.
- There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. The notion of looking is often created in the music video through the use of reflection in the windows of the buildings Lily passes on her way through London. However it is through the use of point of view shots so we can see what Lily's looking at, and the shot/reverse shots which gives us the idea that other characters are looking at her, which present best the notion of looking. We can see through Lily's costume and make-up some voyeuristic treatment of the female body. Although her dress is ankle length it is both backless and strapless which shows off a large section of her bare back and cleavage. Her make-up is done well, she has been given fake tan in order to make what we can see of her body look healthy and more appealing, and a mixture of eye shadow, mascara and other make-up has been used to enhance the appearance of her face.
- There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc). Throughout the music video their are numerous intertextual references beginning with the name of the record store "Tough Grade" as a play on real famous London record store "Rough Trade" Once inside the store the music which can be heard in the background is another one of Lily's songs called Friend of Mine which they probably placed in a video for one of her more popular songs to create more interest for it. When Lily begins to talk about the kind of music she is looking for she satirises key words which were used to describe her album. She claims that she wrote the song based on the poem "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge" which she alludes to by crossing a bridge in the song. Finally a bike without wheels is seen leaning against the record store within the first shot which references the bike she rode in the lower budget original version of the music video created before the song reached mainstream popularity.
Lego house by Ed Sheeran- indie-pop
Shot types: A large amount of shot types were used throughout Lego House but as with the last video the most commonly used shots were close-ups and mid/medium shots. Both are used mostly as shots of the main character of the piece to create focus on them and to make them more recognisable, but unlike most music videos these shots are not used to create star image as the artist is only in the video for about five seconds. The close-ups are also used here so you can more clearly see the character's emotions (which lets them see how unhinged the character is therefore spooking them) and what they are lip synching, as well as to create focus on some objects like the lego pieces and what is in the books. The medium shots are used to allow the movement of the character while still seeing them closely, which is useful for shots of him walking or playing an instruments. Showing this lip synching and instrument playing is often a very important part of the indie pop genre as this audience like to see that the artist truly enjoys their work. Wide and long shots are used frequently as establishing shots but they are also used for the purpose of allowing alot of background to be seen behind the character can be seen so it is easier for the audience to see the truth behind these locations, creating more shock value.
Editing: The most common cut in lego house, as with most filmed pieces, is a jump cut which allows the piece to flow smoothly for the audience, this is also helped with the use of many match on action cuts so the piece moves on to a different shot showing the same action while it is seemingly uninterrupted. Throughout the piece cross cutting the shots is used to show the similarities between the character walking down a backstage corridor and them walking along a concrete path in a nature filled area and it is showing the similarities between these two areas which helps the audience with the transition between the scenes. A graphic match between the main character in different locations is also used to help with the transitioning between the different scenes and sets. As with most of the music videos framing and rule of thirds is used to keep the main character central in most shots to get the audience to focus on them more. The piece is cleverly edited in post production so that shots which reveal that the main character is Ed's stalker rather than Ed himself don't come until near the end, building up tension with the audience and increasing the shock value for them.
Mise en Scene (costume, props and setting): The costumes for the audience in the music video is that of the typical indie pop audience watching the video, which is to say fairly normal teenage clothes with a bit of an edge. By showing the audience in this video as laughing, cheering , and having fun the audience watching the vido will be happy to be represented this way and this will help with attracting them to the video. The bouncers are dressed in what is considered to be stereotypical bouncer clothing including black shirts and blue trousers so that the audience will easily recognise the part they play. The real Ed Sheeran wears the type of costume he usually wears while in the public eye; jeans, a coloured hoodie, and some kind of dark t-shirt underneath which both makes him more recogniseable to his fans and make him more relatble to them as this is considered to be the kind of clothes that many people of the age of his fan base would wear. Ed's stalker wears these same type of clothes as Ed to keep up the illusion that he is Ed for longer, however while near the start the video he looks more well groomed and healthier, and his clothes look newer, as the video goes on and we slowly learn the truth is hair and beard are styled messier, there is dark make-up put under his eyes and the clothes look older and more worn. This gradual costume change helps to further show the stalker's gradual slipping into insanity. Props are used throughout, at first to help to aid in giving the impression that the stalker is the real Ed by having props such as a guitar, a lyric book, a book of Ed's accomplishments, and the chairs and lamps for an interview. However props are then used to help to create the dark atmosphere nearer the end of the music video as he uses a hammer to smash the guitar, there is a CD case shown which he was copying the lyrics off, he created the scrapbook and had added picture of himself, and finally big fake dolls were used as fake journalists for the interview. As well as the home and interview setting the other two main settings include a corridor in the arena and an area of natural space outside. Most of the natural space outside scenes are shown before we know the truth about the stalker and it is very colourfull and brighter to match the tone before the truth is revealed. The corridor is shown more once the truth is revealed and to match the darker tone it is enclosed, darker, more cracked, and rundown looking.
Camera movements and angles: Canted angle shots are used more as the character's true mental state and insanity is revealed, to aid in creating more tension and giving the audience an uneasy feeling. Within the earilier parts of the music video most of the shots are still so that only one view of the setting can be observered, later in the music video the camera moves more around these settings to reveal their true nature with panning. When the character walks they are followed with a tracking shot while using a handheld camera. While the music video has a happier tone this shakiness just gives the idea that it is another person like a friend or a camera man follwing him and this is just their point of view, however the shaky cam becomes more extreme later in the video as it gets darker and we realise that he is alone and the shakiness creates the idea of something being wrong and how unhinged the character is.
Lighting: The available, natural lighting of the sun is used for the outside scenes to make them look brigher in a happier, nice looking way. Practical lighting is used for both the in the house scenes and those in the concert hall, as pratical lighting doen't naturally light up the whole room it creates shadows to make it look darker to match the tone. The lighting in the concert hall when the stalker is at his maddest is also the most artificial looking, lit with long flourescent bulbs which create a sickly yellow light, which serves to make the character look even more unhealthy- even corspe like.
How the band is represented and how the video connects with the target audience:
As I have written before from a combination of the shots, editing, mise en scene, and the lighting the main character is first represented as being Ed but then shown to be his mentally disturbed stalker. The real Ed, although not in the video for very long, is shown to be like one of his audience through his clothes, as I have mentioned before, making him more likeable and relatable to them. From the close up shot of the confusion on his face as he passes the stalker he is represented as being normal, having the typical reaction of anyone in that situation, which presents him as unthreating (at least compared to the stalker). If you take into account how the fake Ed is represented while the audience are unaware that he does not represent the real Ed, he is also presented as enjoying his music through lip synching, playing the guitar, and apparently writing the lyrics to his song, showing that you enjoy your music and are not just doing it to make money is something that the indie pop audience like to see.
Applying Goodwin's theory:
- Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
As with ska videos, not very many indie videos are made as the genre is not as widely popular as some others and therefore does not receive a lot of money, but when they are made in order to keep costs down they are often very low budget. Even if the artist has more money to spend on a video, as an indie-pop artist probably would as their indie music has become popular, to give it more of an indie feel they will often try to make a video look more low budget. This is shown in the sets as the main locations are the University of Hertfordshire (which probably didn't cost much to film at), outside in nature, and at one of Ed's own gigs. However the pop habit of spending lots of money on videos can also be seen in the casting of famous celebrity Rupert Grint as the stalker. From the outside scenes and the lights on the audience in the concert gives us the colourfulness associated with pop while the deeper shadowy tones create the look associated with indie pop. Ed wears the costume associated with indie pop which includes wearing something which is popular at the time (as people would in pop videos) but without any mainstream labels (as indie artist would want to avoid doing this) this is his jeans and hoodie. - There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images. The "lego house" lyric itself is illustrated throughout the video as there are various lego constructions and even a lego house itself. The lyrics " I'm out of touch""I'm out of mind" "my braces are breaking and it's more than I can take" are amplified throughout once the truth is revealed as it is slowly revealed just how out of touch and out of mind the character is through the narrative shown in the music video as he does things which get more and more disturbing and stalkerish.
- There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. The passionate yet slightly dark guitar chord are reflected well through the stalker visuals within the music video. Thought beats is shown in the editing, where the music video shots are cut so that they match up with the beats in the music.
- The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). As I mentioned before there was not lots of close-ups of the artist in the video as he was barely even in it, however there were plenty of close-ups of the actor playing the fake Ed Sheeran and as they have a similar appearance it may create the same star image effect. The motif of the appearance of his costume and his guitar continues in this video from other videos and will be something the audience will recognise in each video.
- There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. There is no female body in the main cast of this video to be voyeuristically treated in this video but the notion of looking it created through the fake Ed looking at himself in the mirror, the stage at the gig which an audience is seen looking at in the piece, and through the eyeline matches of the nature the stalker is looking at.
- There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc). The most obvious intertextual reference within the music video is obviously from the actor himself, Rupert Grint. As well as automatically referencing the Harry Potter films for which Grint is most well known his presence also references the times when people had often mockingly said that one looked like or even was the other, they decided to play to this by having Grint play Sheeran. At the end on the video the stalker is listening to another Sheeran song "this" probably both as a nod to the fans and to get more attention for the not as popular song.
Trouble by Pink- pop-rock
Shot Types: At the begining of Trouble the most common shots used are long and wide in order to show off the wild west setting and to establish it as the setting of the music video for the audience, this is also helped by the use of an arial shot which allows to see much of the town which she is enteing. As with most music videos the most common shots that are used are close-up and medium/mid shots of the artist to aid in the creating of the star image, making her more recogniseable to the audience. As Pink is in most of these shots it also helps with making Pink the main focus of the video, with the close-ups it is also easier to see her emotions which makes it easier for the audience to empathise with her, this is also helped by the use of point of view shots and eyeline matches so the audience can see what she sees and is focusing on in the scene. Close-ups are also used to draw focus to things other than Pink which are important for the video's narrative. The mid/medium shots are also used alot for the fighting scenes as they allow room for movement while still showing detail of the characters fighting. Within most of the video a steadicam is used to make the film easier to view for the audience but handheld shaky cam is used for the fight scenes to help to add to the sense of confusion.
Editing: As with many music videos the shots are often framed using rule of thirds with Pink kept in the optimum position for each shot so that she is the focus within all of them. The video is paced more slowly near the start of the video when not much is happening but once it all kicks off and the fighting begins the editing starts to match it by being very fast paced and quickly cut. To show the fights continuing match on actions and jump cuts are used to keep the action moving. Sometimes just straight cuts are used to make the video seem more abrupt, but this matches the fighting. Paralell editing is used to show different shots of action taking place in different parts of the town. Shot/ reverse shot is used often within the video when two people are fighting so the action can be seen on both sides. No transitions are used so that is looks like the video takes place in real time (although as it is unlikely that this much action could take really take place in real time the editing is really being used to create an ellipsis of time when all this action can happen in three minutes) with no gaps which matches with the fast pace of the video.
Mise en Scene (costume, props and setting): Most of the background characters have clothes which match the time and place of the music video in the old west. This helps to make the video look more convincing and draws the audience into the story. Some of the women in the piece wear a more sexualised version of can can girl dresses, which helps in creating voyeuristic treatment of the female body. The antagonist wears much more modern clothing including jeans with chains attached and a t-shirt with something printed on it, the only thing he has which matches the time is his cowboy hat, it is this modern clothing which allows him to stand out in the video against people wearing period costume so he is more noticeable as the antagonist, this is also aided by the dark colours of his clothing. Pink herself wears a can can girl outfit that has been both slightly modernised with things such as leather gloves, and sexualised by showing lots of cleavage. Her short bright blond hair, along with her dark make-up help her to stand out and give her an edgy look. Props are used in the piece to aid in making the western set look more realistic and to add to the atmosphere. Weapons that are used match those of the time period, including whips which many people in these cowboy times were expected to have. A breakaway props are used throughout the fight scenes to create more chaos and damage in the fights without their being any real danger to the people involved. The sets to all match the time period and indeed aid in establishing it as they all appear to be from the old west. Outside in the town is dust covered and the paint on the building looks, old peeling and cracked, the interiors also have this similar depressing, run down look.
Camera movements and angles: Frequent use of zooming in and out is used either to show something that has happened and then going into a close-up of a character's reaction to it, or to show one image and then going into a close-up of a particular part of that image which the audience is supposed to focus on. The camera also often moves around a scene to let the audience take it all in. Low angle shot are used within the final showdown between Pink and the sheriff to show them both as strong and dominant which causes the audience to worry that she might have met her match and lose the fight, but once Pink gets the upper hand the shots which focus on her remain low angle while the ones which focus on the antagonist become low angle which makes him look submissive and weak compared to her.
Lighting: In the outdoor scenes the available lighting of the harsh desert sun is used, the bright glaring light makes everything appear hot, uncomfortable, and inhospitable, this both helps the town look ominous on Pink's arrival but the shining, sweating skin it causes also add tension to the scenes which take place outside. Inside the jail house the only light is the sunlight which comes through the windows which helps to create shadows which match the dark tone of the piece. This same lighting style is also used in the bar except there is also added artificial, practical lighting lamps, with not much range, also used which give out a wear kind of musty light which leaves this set mainly dark and shadowy too.
How the band is represented and how the video connects with the target audience:
Pink is presented as a strong and confident woman who is able to hold her own. She is shown to have a quick temper when she attacks a bartender for not giving her a drink, but this quality humanises her. Her intelligence is also shown from the way that she escapes from the jail cell. She begins her first fight after she notices the cruelty being done to the horses and this show her kindness and caring. At the end of the video she liberates the town from the dictatorial sheriff and allows the women to take it over instead which helps her to present herself as a positive female role model for the audience. These qualities make Pink more likeable and relatable to the target audience. Presenting herself as a woman who can do anything she wants and with so much confidence makes the audience who want to imagine themselves in the character Pink presents place connect with and enjoy the video more as this is how the women in her female target audience will want to see themselves. The costumes of Pink and the other women should help to attract the stereotypical male audience.
Applying Goodwin's theory:
- Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. The convention of the big budget, large scale pop video can be seen clearly in this video through the completely remade wild west city, including a saloon and jailhouse interior, the vast cast of people within the video, all of them with beautifully made authentic costumes and make-up, the horses, the choreography, hiring the famous actor Jeremy Renner as the antagonist I could go on. However the darker tones of a associated with a rock video can easily be seen within the narrative, although just rock videos themselves don't tend to have a narrative, the rock gives a rock-pop video its darkness. Apart from the slightly modern sheriff's clothing the video does not hold the pop convention of wearing bright, popular for the time, clothing but from the dark clothes, chains, leather, skull jewellery, and dark make-up we can clearly see the costume style associated with rock. The violence shown within the video is another convention often associated with rock music videos.
- There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images. The lyrics of the chorus I'm trouble "Yeah trouble now I'm trouble ya'll I disturb my town I'm trouble Yeah trouble now I'm trouble ya'll I got trouble in my town" are amplified throughout the video as she gets into fights and fights break out in "her town." Most of the rest of the lyrics in the video are illustrated such as when she is in prison the line "No attorneys To plead my case" is played, when the line "And my fingers Are bejewelled With diamonds and gold" a shot of her hands coloured in jewellery is shown, and when she begins to fight the bartender the lyrics "So you better run and hide" are played just before she jumps him. The lyrics are also often shown visually when Pink lip synch the lines.
- There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. The harsh rock music is represented perfectly by the visual violence within the video. The fast paced music is reflected in the fast paced editing, the shots are even cut on each beat which helps to easily combine the music and the video with thought beats.
- The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). There are plenty of close-ups throughout the page to aid in creating Pink's star image for her record label, Pink's unusually styled hair visual motif from past videos is clearly repeated within this video.
- There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. Voyeuristic treatment of the female body occurs frequently throughout the video, from Pink's short, tight, costume, the sexualised way that she dances, and the way that she even begins to seduce the sheriff. Costume and sexualised dancing also creates voyeuristic treatment of the female body for the other women in the video, some are even shown as having been interrupted in bed. At the end the women dance together on the bar top and this gives the idea of looking at a stage.
- There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc). As well as having Renner as an actor in it which automatically references the films which he has been in a little girl appears in the video who was an actress in one of Pink's earlier music videos Family Potrait to reference he other songs and videos as a wink to the fans to make them feel as if they are in on a joke. Some of the actresses for the can can girl in the saloon include members of the band the Pussycat dolls, who probably did this to try and gain some of Pink's audience and to keep themselves relevant in the public eye, while in turn Pink might gain some of their audience. The most obvious intertextual reference in the piece is, of course, the wild west theme and references to it throughout the video.
No comments:
Post a Comment