Our Music video in terms of Andrew Goodwin.

I mentioned Goodwin's theories in a much earlier post and now i am going to apply his theories into our music video to see just how right he was.

"The creation of character identities for stars provides a point of identification for the audience/spectator which is especially important when lyrics often lack depth."

Right from the start we instantly produce an identity, clearly displayed on the drum kit pan shot. At this very early stage the audience doesn't know who t

his identity is yet but they are aware of the name.

We then produce a character related to the name at around 10 seconds when t

he lead singer starts. The audience now knows a little bit more; they know the name of the band and the picture of a face related to it. We haven't put a full band shot in front of the name on the drum kit at the start because that is far too much information for the audience to take in at the start, we wanted it to be fed them gradually. They have quite a lot of information at this point despite not even hearing any of the lyrics yet.

Then we finally reveal the whole band with the name clearly displayed at the back in the centre of the screen and the audience can now see who everyone is, what everyone plays and what they look like. It is at this stage that they start to gain some sense of personality which they can be identified by. This is exactly what Goodwin is trying to say; that identity has to be established for the video to have any effect on the audience, they need to know who they are listening to. Also the long shot is very simple, the screen is split up into 3 sections and there isn't a lot to distract them as shown in the picture below.

Also their costumes are very casual which makes them seem more like ordinary people rather than hip hop rock stars which a lot of bands do today to make them easier to relate to and in the action of trying to deter away from an image, they have in fact created one. They tried to deter away from likes of Lady GaGa's extravagant costumes because they don't want that sort of identity.

He also says that: The construction of stars is central to the economics of the music industry – only stars guarantee sales and long careers

This is the point that creates some confusion. The video has clearly created a star image as shown, but what makes them a "star" is how the audience perceives them. So if they are perceived well then they can guarantee sales because people like them, but to say that they will have long careers is a sweeping statement. There are hundreds of artists who have been what's known as a "one hit wonder" where the artists makes one massive hot or album and then we never hear of them again.

Kings Of Leon- Use Somebody Music Video Analysis

This song was the fourth song on the album "Only By The Night" by Kings of Leon and according to the writer 'Caleb', it is about being lonely while travelling wanting someone to cuddle. In which case this song is one that many people can relate to because even though they are living the high life, earning lots of money and travelling round the world, they still get lonely at times just like any other person.

At the start we see a combination of aerial shots and swoops over a busy illuminated city which reflects on their life styles; how they are always busy and always on the go. It reflects their life style by connoting fun and excitement with an extraordinary night life. This is the part in which the audience can't relate to because the majority of them won't be able to say that they live like that. To further highlight their stardom, we then see them stepping out of a car in glasses about to go on stage as if it was an every day thing to be playing in front of thousands of people.

The live performance is inter cut with sped up scenes of the city, the roads and cars which mirrors their busy life style, but then at the same time we simultaneously see very slow shots of them sitting in a very expensive hotel room where they are doing nothing other than sitting around looking sorry for themselves. This is literally displaying how they feel at times amongst their amazing hi profile life style. They are just like anyone else who want someone to hug when they are lonely.

The main contrast is when the singing first kicks in and the two themes physically overlap in on shot; the busy city fades out while the singer looking fed up and alone in a room begins to sing fading in. Also there are very quick visions of the main singer holding a girl; it is done quickly so that we don't get mixed up with reality. It is also important to note that the vision is done in colour yet the shots of them performing life on stage and warming up, hugging, before they go on are in black and white. This is probably the opposite to what most music videos would have if they were using visions. But in the context of this song I believe they are trying to say that in actually fact, these visions are more important and give them more of a thrill than being in a band because that's all they ever do now, every day, play for fans, but that one moment of colour and passion means the world to them. This makes them appear to be very humble which is how they always like to make them selves appear. They want audiences to be able to relate to them rather than being arrogant rock stars who think the world revolves around them despite the fact they are very wealthy.

Arctic Monkeys - Leave Before The Light Come On Video analysis

Leave Before The lights Come On, is a narrative video telling us the story of a women who thrives off of attention and affection, who gets this by convincing men she is going to commit suicide. The main man seen in the video is her target and when he finally realises that killing herself isn't her only intention he sees sense and tells her to go away, after which she returns to the same spot we see her at the start in a fit of rage as if she is going to kill herself as she looks for her next victim, and the cycle starts again.

Arctic Monkeys often create videos which have nothing to do with the song which is in fact quite common of the Indie genre however the subject matter is quite peculiar. In this video none of the band appears in the video at any time which isn't un-heard of but it is fairly unconventional. In most narrative videos one of the band members normally

appears even if it is just for a short while.

They make no delays in introducing our main characters as they both appear in the first 10 seconds; we see the main man walking casually down a high-street in dark clothing and under dark lighting, yet we see the "suicidal" girl dressed in bright col

ours above him which is quite ironic seeing as she is the one who is a

t rock bottom and about to jump of a building.

Next we see a mid shot of a shoe falling from the sky in front of the man and as he grabs it and looks up he sees the young girl about to jump from the roof and he runs in desperation to save her so at this stage we think that we have one suicidal girl and o

ne man who is about to save her.

Once she has been saved by the hero (or as it later appears, the

victim) we are taken to a much less depressing scene, we are in a cafe with bright colours to represent how the girl now feels. She begins to flirt and her

facial expressions tell us that she is much happier and starting to fall for this man, however she also think that he likes her even though he is a married man and is just trying to cheer her up because she was upset. This is statement on an issue that many teenage boys may have actually been through with unstable teenage girls which isn't normally commented on in music because it is quite a delicate subject but the band feels that this issue has to be addressed to the public becau

se it is actually very common and can be very stressful for both parties. One can only assume that a similar kind of story has happened to one of the band members.

It feels more like a short story as opposed to a mus

ic video because there is very little variation in shot types and the narrative is in real time (almost) instead of jumping about all over the place like alot of videos which is actually typical of this genre. It is making sure that the main focus is the narrative and not the song itself. Its is also shown to be a story because there is no "on the beat" cutting, it looks more as if it may have been edited without even having the track there.

Then the atmosphere starts turn into something darker as the man realises that the girl is mental and has issues with obsession. He gives her plenty of warning

to go away until he has to forcefully tell her to go away. The cutting rate speeds up as the action builds however this change doesn't occur in the music which once again implies that this is more of a drama with a soundtrack. After the fact that he didn't want anything to do with gi

rl kicked in, she hits another state of depression and we see her running on the roof of the same building we first saw her. It looks as if she is about to jump b

ut then stops, looks down, and the story has gone back on itself as we see her how she started off in the video. It is now apparent that this girl is just an attention seeker and probably won't kill herself because she knows that there will always be fresh victims for her to suck affection from.

This video uses very little conventions seen in most music videos but uses alot of the conventions that Arctic Monkeys use in their videos. "Fake Tales Of Sanfransico"

is a very good example of another video of theirs which is in a very similar style. The only difference being the story line itself. Personally if I was making a music video for this song it wouldn

t be anything like that as think that seeing the band is quite important in a music video. However it does strongly demonstrate a common issue which isn't brought up enough in society which is partly what indie music is all about.

Our video in terms of Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis has her own theories about what a music video should be. She says that videos should be "quick cutting or editing on the beat ". This is one of the first things we considered when making any edit when producing our music video as I and the rest of the group agreed that this was a solid theory to stick to.

She also says that ". . . the editing in a music video works hard to ensure that no single element (the narrative, the setting, the performance, the star, the lyrics, the song) gains the upper hand" She is essentially saying that everything should be in balance and moderation to make sure that no part takes over the video and overpowers the rest. However this is quite a generic statement because some videos actually like to go for the opposite effect. In our case we have actually followed this theory and put everything in balance and moderation.

In reference to Graphic Match she says "Such an edit joins two shots through shared compositional elements such as colour and shape, irrespective of context . . . Music video can be can use graphic matches so freely because the genre has reason to draw attention to its materials and production methods: the viewer can reveal in an interesting edit, in a nice shape shared by two images, and in the cleverness of the direction and the editors work, any of which might draw us away from the narrative of a Hollywood movie. The graphic match can highlight elements of a popular song".

We have used this when cutting together our performance base however when we cut to the narrative all of the colour and shape changes which is the effect we were aiming for when making the video.

Dolly Shot

"Most music videos make such extensive use of the dolly that a static shot seems anomalous. The dolly shot keeps the video moving, it starts almost invariably as soon as the video begins, and only ceases towards the end. It provides a simple way for a music video to catch and sustain a song's momentum".

This is something that we struggled with making our video although we didn't realise while filming it at the time. When we was editing we realised that still steady shots look overly still in a real film. They just look so dead so we had to add artificial camera movement to liven it up.

Camera Shot

Music videos do not follow the usual conventions of films, "not only is the relation between the figure and space not frequently off kilter, but the camera bisects the figure in places that would be unacceptable for the classic Hollywood film".

"The framing of music video makes us aware of the edge of the frame and of what we cannot see".

This is basically saying that music videos have much more freedom with the camera and they can break the rules of films. We have used this on several occasions in our video just to make some of the shots more interesting by requiring more audience attention.

The Libertines - Album Cover analysis

This is the album cover for "The Libertines" album released by The Libertines (strangly). The album was released in 2004 as the second and last album from the band. This album cover pretty much demonstrates them as purely as possible; that was what they was all about.

At first glance we can see 2 men looking pretty wasted showing off their tatoos. The tatoos do actually say "Libertines" and this shot was taking after a drunken night out. The 2 men shown are the two front men of the group; Pete Doherty and Carl Barat. The album is actually based on the relationship that they had which was very much a rollercoaster ride. They were clearly close enough friends to start a band, tour, nd release two albums however after a dispute, Pete broke into Carl's house while on drugs and was charged shortly after pleading guilting in court. Yet here in this album cover they are looking quite friendly. They were renound for the drink and drugs use and here in this image we can see dialated eyes, a ciggerette in one of their hands and a plastic cup (probably full of beer) in the oter hand. This connotes everyting that the band is about, they enjoy the partying, having a good time no matter how dangerous; it really reflects their ruthlessness.

It may have actually been this image that they were putting forward that made them as popular as they are; they weren't following what the industry was controlling everyone else to do, they did their own thing and didn't care about the rest.

However this album cover has been in he firing line of several music critics saying that it is a bad influence on younger generations and not a true portrayal of what rockstars should be like. You would expect that like most bands they would change their cover to please critics, but being The Libertines, they kept it and didn't care about the critics which actually earned them alot of respect from a lot of people but at the same time made them lose the respect of others.

Also the colours are a bit uneasy and it is probably not a natural picture and has more than likel undergone some hue and saturation changes and i believe that this has been done to maybe create the effect of being under the influence of something that effects your perception of colour or vision.

Conventions of music videos

I have decided to analyse 30 Seconds To Mars' "From Yesterday" music video; specifically focussing on the conventions that are seen in music videos as a whole. This is rumoured to be the most expensive music video ever made.

From the off there is what's known an "establishing" shot. This sets the scene so that the audience knows where the rest of the video is taking place. Most music videos will have this type of shot if the place of which is set is important. In this case it is set in ancient China and this is obvious from the very first shot.

Next, we see a wide shot of all the band walking. This allows the audience to know who the are watching, they now know what the band looks like. In this image they re all dressed in uniform black with heavy eye makeup making them look quite mysterious.

Soon after we see a high angle shot looking down a long road bordered by ancient chinese martial artists. They are pulling the audiences eye into the centre of the screen; this is an artistic technique called vanishing point. Music videos will use techniques like this is they want to draw attention tom something specific or give a vision of perspective or depth.

Then we get a mid range shot which is a combination of the 2 previously mentioned shots. The shot of the band are now within the path which was in the perspective shot. This now draws maximum attention to the band which is obviously the main source behind any music video so it makes sense to make them the centre of attention.

When the singing finally kicks in the singer turns to the camera to make the audience feel like they are being sung to personally. This also gives the artists a personality which is a convention most music videos of this genre use. Also he has red tip in his hair which connotes danger.

The next convention used in the music video is the first full band long shot which shows everything in full action. We can see all of the members, what they play and how they perform; this gives the band a very strong personality, they are full of energy and passion which is a huge selling point and music videos are all about selling yourself.

Another feature seen in a lot of music videos takes places when the song hits a "double time" point; this is where the main solid beats come in twice as quick and it feels as if the tempo has doubled. In this case it is done with close ups of various people in chinese costumes. The face changes every beat and then when the beats double the cutting rates double to match the music and there is a great sense of intensity.

Then we see something that is only typical of music videos with the genre of this music because it only works with what could be called an "epic" chorus where the audience needs to feel a sense of power and uprising. Here we see a huge long shot of the band performing in front of an impressive Chinese pyramid with fireworks exploding over their heads and various pyrotechnics around them. This gives off the impression that the band are powerful and can make something spectacular happen. It is a very effective way of selling themselves, giving the audience something that is typical eye candy.

Overall the band has use many codes and conventions of music videos in its genre however they have also tried to create some new ones because they were trying to create a short film as opposed to a traditional music video. I think they have pulled this very well and they have clearly gone to a lot of effort to achieve their desired affect.

Genre, Context & Audience

Everyone has their own tastes in music and there is a genre of music for everyone, all of which originate from different backgrounds and have evolved into something new caused by music fusions. These fusions and genres have mainly come about from ancient times across all four corners of the globe; Africa, India, America and Europe. Their music styles have been crossed and coupled with technology to create thousands of music genres and it's now got to the stage where music can barely even be put into a genre.

Bands have realised this and are now taking pride in breaking music genres pointless boundaries. However this does mean that there is something for everyone out there.

However in spite of this, bands still target a specific audience with their music, without an audience, there is no one to listen to their work and therefore no reason to do it. They will create their music to please their audience but unfortunately there is such thing as main stream. This means a style of music which can be listened to by literally anyone which is good for the artist as they have a huge fan base, and it brings different audiences together, however these artists normally get ahead of themselves and abuse their power and then create what main stream actually is; music becomes what they want it to be. Also to people who care about the music industry, they judge them as being "sell-outs" which in many cases is true; some artists are just in it for the money and the life style that comes with it.

I personally think that the best artists are the ones that stay true to themselves, they produce music they care about, they please their audience and they don't do literally anything just to get famous or to make money. For example Mumford And Sons. They are to true to their own music and have some form of morals and self respect and they gain my respect; I just wish there were more bands around like them and maybe this would save the tragic state of the music industry which I have mentioned in another post (Changes in the music industry)

Music videos analysis

This is the music video for Enter Shikari's "No Sleep Tonight" released in August 2010. The song is about how big business men are using oil companies to make money when actually the world has sufficient technology to carry on without it. Therefor they are just using them to make money when they causing a ridiculous amount of pollution. The band is questioning how these business men can sleep at night; hence the title "No Sleep Tonight". This is just my opinion but it is widely shared when the song uses lyrics such as "The sun and see could power us, no longer cowled in oil lust."

The video shows mostly the narrative of a big important oil baron who is being followed by the lead singer. By the end of the video, the whole band plus a lot of extras are outside the business mans house and keeping awake by shouting the chorus at him.

At the start we see the lead singer walking past the business man and he barges past to display his importance and lack of respect for other people. This sets up the characteristics of this character for the audience; the probably have taken a disliking to him already. It is this man that is going to be the main source of attraction through out the video.

A little while later during the first chorus, amongst the band playing live, there is a scene where the business man pushes his wife away because he is on the phone making "an important call". This shows he's extreme selfishness and his ignorance to what really matters. He would rather make an extra pound than have the love of his wife. Another example of his self centered ego is when he is working out in front of the mirror and smiles at himself.

The next message given through the video is when the man is walking down the corridor in his house. He has various canvas photos on his wall of disasters over the world caused by his actions. He looks at at them and smiles as if to say he is proud of what he has done; but the song is asking him how on earth can you sleep at night? He then turns round to see hundreds of people outside his house asking him the same question. It gradually turns him insane as he realises that he in fact isn't getting any sleep. The band are definitely having a go at big oil companies who only think about short term profit, and how they are basically paying scientists to speak out and say that climate change and global warming isn't really and it isn't happening and that we should just carry on as we are. Thus they wonder how these people sleep at night. Personally i agree with the band; it is behavior like that that has caused the current state of our planet.

Album Cover analysis - Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd

This is the album cover for Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" which is the 3rd best selling album of all time. At first glance it doesn't look like much at all. There is no sense of normality or convention.

First of all there is no album name, nor is there the artists name. Why? Somehow or another this has been one of the most effective artworks ever created nd yet they have managed to achieve this without the audience even knowing what band has created it, or the name of the album. It could be argued that in fact the lack or identification on the front would confuse the audience and bring out their curiosity, forcing them to look at the album closer. But surely it would make more sense to say that most people wouldn't be that bothered by it and would walk straight past it if it was on the shelf of a record store. This may have been the case since it didn't actually sell that well in the UK originally, it was much bigger in the US.

But lets look at what actually is there. The symbol in the middle is something recognised by scientist and is to do with the refraction of light through a prism. This denotes that the band are actually quite well educated if they know scientific symbols but then at the same time connotes what the album is actual about; conflict, greed, ageing, and mental illness. A lot of issues in the society they lived in. So I would say that they symbol is actually a metaphor for life itself. The first years are great, all they way on the go, nothing to stop you, and then suddenly, everything changes, and you have all these problems in your own little world. I also get the impression that this idea is followed through by the black background; as if to say that is literally it, life is just there, in the middle of nothing with no apparent meaning. It is very hard to depict from something so simple and plain.

Other people have come up with all sorts of ideas. That it is a symbol of love or relationships, some say that it is about war and government empowerment. Who is to say which is right but it does bring up a valid point, that is it very abstract and left down to audience interpretation which is normally done with post modern art. Doing with artwork for an album cover is quite risky in my opinion because I believe that an album cover should have all the vital information on it first before metaphorical pictures come anywhere near the design. But that's the great thing about music, everyone has their own way of displaying it and interpreting it.

Star Image - Richard Griffith

‘No machinery ever of itself and by itself made a star. That takes place in the depths of the collective unconscious’

Basically he is saying that it doesn't matter how much is reenforcing someone to be a star, it is not that reinforcement that makes a star, it is how the audience receives them. Therefore it is not really about talent anymore, and there is only so much a record label can do with an artist, if they aren't widely liked then isn't much else that they can do. The consumer won't look at all the effort that has been put into the artist, whether or not they like the artist is done unconsciously, and if more an people like them, then a star is made.

Star Image theories - Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer says that there are a range of star to audience relationships:

1) Emotional affinity - The most common relationship (and the most healthy), the audience has a lose attachment to the artist.

2) Self Identification - This is when the person puts themselves in the same situation as themselves because they love this artist so much which is much more common than expected.

3) Imitation - This is the most common amongst the youth of our culture, they see the artist as an idol, someone to look up to.

4) Projection - This is when imitation is taken to the extreme, the artist has actually desensitized the audience and they lose touch with reality (very rare)

Star Image Theories - Andrew Goodwin

Andy Goodwin says that: The creation of character identities for stars provides a point of identification for the audience/spectator which is especially important when lyrics often lack depth.

Basically, if a stars lyrics aren't particularly deep or meaningful then it makes it harder for the audience to relate to them, however if they create an image or a character then it makes it easier for people to relate to and increases their popularity and their power to be an idol.

He also says that: The construction of stars is central to the economics of the music industry – only stars guarantee sales and long careers,

In some ways, this is true, stars will have bigger sales and longer careers but this does not always make them the most popular. sometimes smaller artists have much more loyal solid fan bases because they are more down to earth and not surrounded by a bubble of fame much like a lot of "stars" today.

He says that : Star loyalty is a key ingredient – fans are loyal to the star.

Again I would agree with what he is saying, people like Lady Gaga have a huge fan base all of whom are loyal to the artist and will probably side with them despite what other people may think or if the artist does something shocking (like wearing a suit made of meat).

He also says : The record industry is very dependent on stars – many record companies rely on a few big stars (or even just one) to provide stability.

I think this makes perfect sense, some record labels may only have one artist, but if it is a super star then they are sorted, they don't need anyone else, why would they waste time on artists who aren't going to be starts when they could just focus on the star thats going to make them the most money. It seems wrong but thats just how it is in todays music industry.

This is the debut album from the post- hardcore band “Enter Shikari” named “Take to the skies”

Enter Shikari as annoying as some people find them, sing about real subjects as apposed to “the girl next door”. The lead singer Rou, writes his lyrics about how the world is being destroyed and we’re all sitting back watching it happen. He also writes about rebellions between the people and our government. Some Lyrics to show this are :

“Each nation used to provide its country with security.
With factories providing arms for their country. Now multinational companies compete in the arms trade
to serve any customer, maximizing the money to be made.
So just as farms compete to provide fruit for other countries
so people can live to enjoy the taste of nature
National warehouses compete to provide arms around the world
to aid death
and all hell unfolds.

Our gracious queen
should grasp her crown
and take a good fucking swing at Blair and Brown
for leading her countries to illegal warfare
and trying to pass it off that we're doing 'cause we care”

The picture is quite hard to make out, but when looked at closely we can see we have the earth in right in the middle, surrounded by beasts and an Aztec. And according to Rou, “Shikari was a third generation Aztec”. There is also a crown sitting on the top, this goes along with the fact that a lot of his lyrics are about our monarchy. The face on the earth looks much like a skull to connote that the world is dead. And by the looks of it, it is the beasts surrounding it that have killed it; the beasts are basically representing us as people, and the government, destroying the world together by fighting over it.

Rou is trying to get the whole world to unite to tackle the troubles of the world through his music, the picture could be seen as all these different people and things coming together to unite. They basically talk about how this world is run by the most ignorant twats who will keep plunging the rest of us into darkness just for a few pieces of paper and numbers on a screen. We could've sorted all the worlds problems years ago, but we'd rather spend our time making sure we have a bigger TV than our mates.

Functions And Meanings Of Music In Editing - Carol Vernallis

"quick cutting on the beat"

This is simply where every time there is a cut it is in time with the music, this doesnt mean on every beat, and it could infact be on a "double time" which means the shots change twice as fst as the beat but it will still stay in time with the music.

"Edits in music videos come more frequently than that in film"

"Music video editing bears a far greater responsibility for many elements than does classic Hollywood film editing"


In films there could be a shot of about 5 or 6 seconds on average but having a shot this long in a music video is quite rare. A music video has to tell an entire story in only the length of the song so alot has to go in.


The editing in the music videos works hard to ensure that no single element (narrative, setting, performance, star, lyircs, song) gains the upper hand.

Basically this means that everything has to be balanced and in proportion, too much of one thing will ruin it and the central focus will be lost.

I will bear these theories in mind when creating my own video

Other peoples work

I thought a good place to start would be to look at work done by other people for the same coursework to see what people have come up with. I found this...

I think they have done a very good job besides the fact i hate the song and their style of music video. Not my style at all however they have handled it very well. I particularly like their use of lighting which is maybe something i could use. The dancing however is a bit novice and should only be put in a video if it is done properly. The lip syncing is very good and everything is nicely in time and I would say that they have managed to make it look like an actual music video as apposed to a school project.