...
...
SOME OF THE SCRIPT:
EDITING
I looked at many different music video examples in multiple genres and discovered that the average amount of shots in the first 30 seconds was between 5-36, making each shot/take last between 0.83-6 seconds. I noticed that for the music video in the alternative rock genre, there were a significantly higher amount of shots per second. During the first 30 seconds, there were 36 shots, therefore making each shot last 0.83 seconds. This is an another example of a music video with a high amount of shots per second. I've learned that this is common to see in the alternative rock genre and the metal genre. Also, this is surprisingly a fan-made video.
I also discovered that there is a variety of pace in music videos. You can see this in the example Sigrid - Plot Twist. Also, the shots cut to the beat a lot of the time as you can see in the example Young Guns - Bones and also BMTH - Can You Feel My Heart. In some examples, you can also see use of the editing technique, layering. BMTH - Throne and Halsey - Ghost are good examples to look at here for layering.
I have also noticed that continuity editing is somewhat uncommon/countertypical for music videos. Therefore, the 180 degree rule can't be applied. Instead, there is a lot of use of discontinuity editing. Although, if the music video is purely narrative (on the verge of being a short film), with use of diegetic sounds, there is chance that continuity editing may be present, therefore the 180 degree rule is applied. Good examples to prove this point are Halsey - Now Or Never and Rihanna - Needed Me. I have created GIFs to show the slight use of continuity editing in these videos.
NARRATIVE AND PERFORMANCE
There are many theories you can apply here for narrative and performance. These are Roland Barthes' 5 Codes, Todorov's 5 Part Narrative, Propp's 7 Character Archetypes and Levi Strauss' Binary Opposition.
As you can see here, Roland Barthes' system of 5 codes includes:
the enigma code
the action code
the semantic code
the symbolic code
the cultural code
In the examples, Chase and Status - Flashing Lights, Rihanna - Needed Me, Halsey - Now Or Never the enigma code is present. This is a sense of mystery in the narrative. In the examples MØ - Kamikaze, Halsey - Now Or Never and Niykee Heaton - Bad Intentions, the action code is present. This is a sense of action in the narrative.
Now I will be referring to Todorov's 5 part narrative theory. As you can see here, this includes 5 parts to a narrative. You may say that since a music video is so short, you can't actually fit all the 5 parts of a narrative in it. Most commonly you will see the first part - a state of equilibrium at the outset, the second part - a disruption of the equilibrium by some action, and perhaps the fifth part which is the reinstatement of a new equilibrium. Todorov's theory can be applied in the examples Rihanna - Needed Me, Chase and Status - Flashing Lights and Matrix and Futurebound - Don't Look Back.
-Propp
Vladimir Propp was a soviet scholar and folklorist who analysed the basic plot components of fairy tales to identify their basic narrative elements. He did this by breaking the fairy tales into different sections.
Through these sections, Propp was able to define the tales into a series of sequences.
At first he had divided them into 31 different sections. However, he soon realised that those 31 sections could be resolved into 7 broad character functions.
My own:
My own:
From the study of fairytales:
1. The Villain (antagonist) - struggles against the hero.
2. The Donor - prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
3. The Helper - helps the hero in the quest.
4. The Hero - reacts to the donor, saves the day, weds the princess.
5. The False Hero - takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the princess.
6. The Princess or Prize - the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and father cannot be clearly distinguished.
7. The Dispatcher - character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
There are 3 types of music videos: a music video with just narrative, a music video with just solely performance and a music video with a combination of both. There are two types of narrative that can occur in a narrative music video, these are linear and fragmented narratives. A linear narrative has a beginning, a middle and an end. The beginning, middle and end are presented in that order, as in fairytales. Whereas, a fragmented narrative, however, might have a beginning, middle and end but the components are in a mixed up order. This means that the narrative might start at the end of the story, go back to the start of the story, then end at the middle of the story. Two examples I looked at, had a fragmented narrative, these being The 1975 - Sex and MØ - Kamikaze. In both cases, the end is at the start. The majority of the examples had a linear narrative, such as Somewhere Else - Move Together, Matrix and Futurebound - Don't Look Back, Chase and Status - Flashing Lights and Astrid S - Bloodstream. This meant that the story is told from beginning to end, like a fairytale.
A performance music video is where the focus is put on the lead singer and their performance. Some great examples I looked at for this were, DJ Snake - The Half, Mabel - Bedroom, Sigrid - Don't Kill My Vibe and VENIOR - Sugar Rush; where there is no narrative. You see the artist performing continuously. However, in these types of music videos, the audience can't engage with the video as much and relate to the video. This is why these types of videos are not that popular. But on the other hand, the dance routines in these videos do attract some audiences, particularly female 'tweens' age 9-12.
Lip syncing performance is also very important for a music video in order to achieve verisimilitude. It also gives the audience the opportunity to sing along and engage with the artist. The use of dance routines in music videos is also an important characteristic. This further helps the audience engage with the artist.
Some music videos can actually be in the form of a short film, with a whole linear narrative (beginning, middle, end). Great examples of this are Halsey - Now Or Never and Tove Lo - Cool Girl. Halsey and Tove Lo are similar because they have created music videos which all lead on from each other, just like episodes in a TV show. Each music video will be apart of something bigger (one relatively large short film lasting 30 minutes or less). Halsey is only just in the process of doing this with some of her songs from her new album 'Hopeless Fountain Kingdom'. She has already made videos for the songs 'Now Or Never' and 'Bad At Love'. The narrative from the video for 'Now Or Never' is followed on in the video for 'Bad At Love'.
Another theory I will be looking at is Carol Vernallis' 'Experiencing Music Video Theory. You can see here what this theory involves. In brief, Carol Vernallis argues that music videos derive from the songs they set, that the music comes first - the song is produced before the video has been created - and the director normally designs images with the song as a guide. She believes that music videos have a nonnarrative.
NON-/DIEGETIC TITLES AND INTERTITLES
Another thing I noticed was that the majority of music videos in the electropop genre, that I had looked at, had a titles or intertitles at the start, which said the song or artist name or both. MISE-EN-SCENE
Andrew Goodwin's theory of relationship between lyrics, visuals and music can be applied here. He argues that there are six defining, common characteristics of music videos. These are:
1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music.
4. 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.
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc.) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There are often intertextual references (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc.)
Mabel's 'Bedroom' is a good example to look at here for the 1st characteristic - music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. This is because the mise-en-scene (costume, make-up, props, location etc.) for this video clearly signifies and connotes the genre as being electropop. The artist is wearing glamorous, revealing clothing, lots of make up (mascara, eyeshadow, foundation, eyeliner, lipgloss) and has her eyebrows plucked and filled in. The location for this video is a studio, with a large bed floor covered in pillows. Also, the lighting throughout is purple. Without these genre characteristics, the genre of the music video would not be clear to the audience.
Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball is a good example to use for the 5th characteristic. There is frequent voyeuristic treatment of the female body. Miley Cyrus is frequently on display in this music video - appearing naked and half-naked at points.
COSTUME CHANGES, MULTIPLE LOCATIONS
Another common convention that I discovered was that there are a lot of costume changes in music videos and use of multiple locations. For example, in the video for 'Don't Kill My Vibe' by Sigrid, the artist wears 4 different outfits. The same applies for the videos Halsey - Ghost and ALMA - Chasing Highs.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
There are some common conventions of shots that are used in music videos. One of the main shots used is extreme long shot. This type of shot is either used on the artist to show their emotions or on some of the instruments such as the bass in the drum kit and the guitar. Also, it can be of large significance to show the cables connected to the musical instruments (e.g. the cable connected to the microphone) in a music video, because it creates verisimilitude, even though they are not actually plugged in.
REPRESENTATION
There were many examples I looked at which applied Laura Mulvey's 'male gaze' theory. This theory suggests that the camera puts the audience into the perspective of a heterosexual man. A great example for this is Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball. Miley is wearing a small white top with no bra, white underwear and maroon Doc Martens. She is also wearing lots of make up such as bright red lipstick, which has very heavy sexual connotations. She is being heavily glamorised with her body on display. This same theory can be applied to the video Prince Fox - Just Call (feat. Bella Thorne), the artist, Bella Thorne, is being glamorised with heavy make up, pink lingerie and jewellery. There are many shots of just her legs and body.
I will now be referring to a queer theorist, Judith Butler. You can see here a description of what Judith Butler's theory involves. I can apply this theory to the examples BMTH - Sleepwalking and Young Guns - Bones. These two songs are produced by boy bands. It is a stereotype that bands playing instruments in the rock, alternative rock or metal genre include just males. More examples of bands like this include Thirty Seconds To Mars, ACDC, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, You Me At Six, Onerepublic, The Script, The 1975, The Smiths, Arctic Monkeys, Motionless In White, Pierce The Veil and A Day To Remember. None of these bands include a female. Judith Butler argues that the reason for the absence of any females in a band is because it is brought on by society that this is masculine, not feminine. So, all girl groups you see in society don't appear to play instruments in their music videos, but instead, lip sync and dance, due to the fact that these girl groups are pop groups. Examples of girl pop groups are The Saturdays, Little Mix, Spice Girls, Girls Aloud, Destiny's Child, Pussycat Dolls, Neon Jungle and Fifth Harmony.
Another theory I can apply to this is John Berger's 'Ways Of Seeing'. He argues that "men act and women appear", that "men look at women" and "women watch themselves being looked at". "Women are aware of being seen by a male spectator". This theory can be applied to the music video examples Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball, Mabel - Bedroom, Katy Perry - Bon Áppetit and Niykee Heaton - Bad Intentions. The womens' bodies in these videos are on display, Miley Cyrus in Wrecking Ball is naked at some points and also wearing just underwear. Niykee Heaton in her music video is also wearing very small bikinis and bodysuits which clearly show her body.
INTERTEXTUALITY
The music video is noted for its postmodern style, especially borrowing widely not only from other videos but also from other media. Kristeva coined the term 'intertextuality' to denote the practice of utilising elements of other texts. As I have mentioned earlier in the vodcast, Andrew Goodwin identifies this as one of the six core defining characteristics of music videos. Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball and Blackbear's 'Do Re Mi' are good examples to look at for the this. Wrecking Ball has an intertextual reference to the music video for Sinead O'Connor's 'Nothing Compares To You' and 'Do Re Mi' has an intertextual reference to the film 'The Sound Of Music'.
Another theorist, Katie Wales, argues that 'genre is... an intertextual concept'. Therefore, genre exists in the relationship between texts rather than in the actual text itself.
aS WE DISCUSSED: put the script under a read more link, STATING ABOVE THE LINE where it is (click on the read more link below to see the full script)
ReplyDeleteRemember to edit it when you've edited the video to provide a more useful structure.
You can also see here another example of a tendency to describe things - in unnecessary detail/length - without applying them: Propp. You've APPLIED some theory. Don't mention it unless you're applying it, and avoid those very very long explanations; paraphrase in your own words. List the key archetypes, don't describe them.