Take on me cover by Anni B Sweet
Anni B Sweet is an indie pop singer from Malaga in Spain, and is in this way very similar to Russian Red, and as a female in her 20's she is more relatable and able to represent the target audience. I have decided to analyse her music video for her cover of Take on Me as it was the song which had the largest amount of UK viewers out of all her songs and is the audience from this location that we want to attract. The most commonly used shot within this music video was a mid shot of Anni in various locations, the use of a mid shot allows Anni to be still seen in a certain amount of detail while still showing enough of her to let the audience feel that they are looking at most of her, meaning that Anni's face can be seen in better detail to make her more recognisable to aid in creating her star image while also leaving room for her movement including her walking and playing the ukulele, The use of these mid shots causes Anni to become the audience's main focus in all of these mid shots, in fact, even though not all the shots are mid and she is not the focus of quite all of them, Anni is in every shot within this music video, and it is this focus on the female star which seems to be a common convention of indie pop music videos, if not all music videos. In most of the shots Anni is seen to be singing or even playing and instrument, which is a convention of the indie pop genre as it shows the artist's connection to their music, this is something that many indie pop fans would want to see in the artists' they like music videos so it is important that we do this in order to attract and address them. The music video is edited so that it appears to be one long shot- just fast forwarded and rewinded to different sections, meaning that it is unable to do cut to coincide with thought beats such as in Andrew Goodwin's music video theory, but the shots are edited on top of the music so that the lyrics and the music matches up with her lip synching and the instruments which her and others are playing, so that the video does make use of thought beats. Framing using rule of thirds and keeping Anni in the middle of each shot helps in keeping her as the focus in all the shots, even in those where there is other people. Throughout the camera moves in a tracking shot so that is is always following Anni as she goes, the camera is usually in front of her and she breaks the fourth wall by singing at it- creating a connection with her target audience as it is more like she is singing to them. The lighting in the video is a greyish colour, which gives the video a more vintage like look and lets Anni stand out more for her brighter clothes, the vintage look is a common convention of indie pop videos and will be something the audience members will expect and want to see. Anni wears fashionable clothing that has no labels on it so it follows both the pop convention of wearing what is fashionable for the time and the indie convention of not wearing anything with a mainstream label. This costume is also very similar in this way to the costume of the stereotypical indie pop fan (which I have spoken about in another post) making her more relatable to them and representing herself as an indie pop fan. She has very little, natural looking make-up and hair done in a very casual style, her skin looks tan and healthy, and as she is representing the indie pop audience she presents them in this way too. Her main costume includes a tank top and an unbuttoned sleeveless cardigan, which much of her shoulders, arms, neck and cleavage to be exposed which will help to attract male audience members and follows Goodwin's idea of voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
Starry Eyed by Ellie Goulding
After a member of our target audience mentioned her as another indie pop artist that she enjoys and I discovered that she is from the UK, meaning she is more likely to attract the same target location as us, I decided to analyse a music video by Ellie Goulding. She is a european indie pop singer in her twenties she is similar enough to Russian Red that it is likely that we will be trying to attract the same target audience that Ellie has already attracted in her videos. Within her music video for "Starry Eyed" the most commonly used shots are: mid/medium shots of her head to her shoulders, close-ups of her face and extreme close-ups of her eyes, and Ellie is in almost every shot within the music video. This shows another example of helping to create the artist's star image within the music video- showing their image as often as they can in the video so that everyone remembers their face. In each of these shots she is looking directly at the camera, singing straight to the audience which helps to draw them into the video and make her more relatable to them. Her lip synching coincides with thought beats and is present throughout most of the video so that it adheres to the indie pop convention of showing that the artist enjoys their work which is something indie pop fans will want to see. The extreme close ups are also used so that the stars in her eyes can be seen to create a sense of the unusual and the whimsical within the video which seems to be something that the alternative minded indie pop fans enjoy seeing. Other shots which are used include extreme long shots, wide shots, and long shots and are mostly used to show off the setting. The video is mainly set within a large open space of a field surrounded by woods, a natural setting is a common convention for indie pop videos as the budget may often be lower and it is cheaper to shoot outside rather than create a set, and because, as a member of my target audience said, the youthful indie pop fandom like to see the characters in these videos that they imagine themselves as as being free with plenty of room to move about and explore. In keeping with the tone of the video Ellie is also presented as being excited and amazed my her surroundings. The editing is done so that the shot cuts on a beat, so the music video furtherly follows the idea of thought beats. Special effects are added to create more of a supernatural atmosphere which we couldn't recreate unfortunately but we could use other devices to create an unusual atmosphere in our piece. There are two main costumes in this piece- one where Ellie is dressed in the stereotypical clothes of indie pop fans, fashionable for the time clothes, without major labels, so that she is more relatable to her audience and is able to represent them in her video, in this case she shows herself as a young, in love woman, with unique powers, who through a use of natural make-up and hair- looks healthy and full of life. This means that the audience feel they are represented as this too as they relate to her. The other main costume looks like a 1920's hollywood catwalk glamour gown, and having a 20th century American costume and style in the music video is a common motive for many indie pop music videos, meaning it is something the audience must want to see in these videos. Both costumes are used to voyeuristically treat Ellie's body and the more modern costume includes a large to that hangs suggestively of her shoulders and her vintage look dress cuts off at her chest- leaving everything above her clevage exposed. The video is lit darkly let to reflect the nightime which it is supposed to be in the video, use of a darker lighting often appears within indie videos. The lyrics are mostly amplified in this video, the video has a magical, exciting tone just like that of the song, but the "starry eyed" is literally illustrated through the stary in the sky and effects being used so it looks as if Ellie really does have stars in her eyes.
You've got the love by Florence and the Machine
After having heard of Florence myself I decided to analyse one of her music videos, as she is a singer in an indie pop/rock band from Europe (London) , in her twenties, with a similar look to Russian Red and I felt therefore similar enough to Russian Red that their videos should have similar charecteristics in order to attract the same indie pop audience. The most commonly used shots in "you've got the love" are mid/medium shots and wide shots. As with the other videos the mid/medium shots are used to aid in creating Florence's star image. The wide shots are used so that all of Florence and her costume can be seen at once while including a little background. When all of Florence can be seen we can see her full costume, which is a silvery vintage looking leotard which leaves her arms and neck bare and cuts off at her bottom so that some of it is visible all so is the full length of her legs. She often dances in a sexual way in the video by doing things such as stroking her body with her hands. This shows clear use of voyeuristic treatment of the female body within this video. Florence is in almost every shot within her music video and is the only person in the first half of it, she lip synchs throughout most of the shots in keeping with thought beats and similarly the piece is added so that the cuts coincide with beats as well. The lip synching and joyous dancing continues to in keep with the indie pop convention of showing that the artist enjoys their work which is something that the indie pop audience will want to see. Within many of the shots the camera is facing her as she sings, again in an attempt to create a connection with her and the audience. The first half of the music video appears to be set within an empty studio where Florence is dancing in a dark room, on top of a glittering moon with set lights shining on it so that the moon and the sequins on her costume glitters, silver and white balloons are then set off there. The setting for the rest of the video is some kind of club filled with people with the same moon hanging from the roof and Florence still dancing from it. The first setting seems to be very typical for an indie pop video with only the singer (and in some cases maybe one or two other people) present although the lack of room for movement as she had to stay on the moon seemed unusual. The large amount of people in the second setting was again vey unusual for an indie pop video. There is usually a very small amount of people within an indie pop video for many reasons such as budget and so that the audience can see more of the artist and feel more connected to them as many indie pop fans would want to do, while still having enough people for an interesting narrative. However although the second setting breaks the indie pop setting convention it does well in amplifying the joyful, party like tone of the song and the idea from the lyrics of the song that it will be other peoples' love that gets you through. Both sets are lit darkly but include a wide variety of colours, as many of the indie pop music videos I have studied does so that the dark/vintage lighting style of indie music videos are shown along with the colours associated with pop music videos. As with the other videos Florence's make-up and hair is done very naturally which gives her young and healthy look and as she is supposed to represent her audience she is showing them as being young and healthy too. The club scenes have people listening to Florence who are supposed to be like the audience which are watching the video, and this audience and therefore the indie pop audience, are shown as having fun and being full of life and love. Florence herself also wanted the audience to be shown this way as this was the way she felt when she went out and listened to the song which this one comes from, "you got the love".
After analysing these music video I have came to some conclusions about how our music video must look in order to attract our target audience.
Shots
Some of our most common shots should include extreme close up and close up to help in creating a star image for our artist and so that she can be seen in clearer detail so her reaction to the song and what is happening in the video can be seen more easily so that the audience may sympathise with her are therefore feel a stronger connection with her. She should be the focus of most, if not all the shots in the piece.
Mid/medium shots should also be used for this same reason while also allowing more movement for the artist.
Wide shots and some long shots should also be used so that the whole of the artist can be seen in their environment, including their whole costume.
Any shots with the artist in them should be framed so that she is the focus of them.
In some shots she should break the fourth wall and sing straight at the audience through the camera in order to make a connection with them.
Editing
The piece should be edited so that thought beats can be seen working, such as cutting shots on certain beats. There should be footage of her singing and this should be matched with her lip synching to show that the audience who want to see just that will see that the artist enjoys her work and is not just doing it to make money. Thought beats like these can help the piece to look smoother and flow better, making it easier for an audience to watch.
Mise en Scene
The costume, as well as matching the setting of the video, should sexualise the female body to coincide with voyeuristic treatment of the female body in Goodwin's theory.
The costume should either be modern looking with no label like the dress of the stereotypical indie pop fan in order to help present her as like/ one of them and make her more relatable to them. Or it should be vintage fashionable clothing from 20th century America so that it is like other indie pop videos which have proven able to attract indie pop fans before.
The hair should also be in the 20th century American style while also looking very natural and easy to do.
There should be very little make-up and it should be very natural looking so that the artist looks young and healthy, and as the artist is trying to represent the audience they are attempting to attract, this will show the indie pop audience as being young and healthy, which is how they would like to see themselves.
The setting should be large, giving the artists lots of room to move about, so they can represent the target audience as being free with lots of possibility. The setting should also match or ironically conflict with the tone of the video.
In order to match with the tone of our song we must break the convention of lighting our set darkly but we can still light it so that it has a vintage look, so that it still has the typical indie pop look which the audience will enjoy.
The artist
The actress we use to represent our artist should be as similar to our indie pop audience as possible so that she is more relatable to them. This means she too should be a woman between the ages of 15-25 from the UK.
How we will apply Goodwin's theory
We will use some codes and conventions of the genre
We will use thought beats
We will amplify the lyrics of the song in our piece as this is what most of the indie pop videos seem to do, along with a couple of instances of literally illustrating it. We will try to amplify the tone of the music in our piece as well.
We plan to use voyeuristic treatment of the female body to attract some male audience members
Although most indie pop music videos here do not include intertextual references I feel that we should include some which the audience will recognise to connect to them in the music video.
