Studio Exercise

In preparation for our music video shoot next year, yesterday we spent the morning in the studio shooting a music video as practice.

The track that we used was Clean Bandit - No place I'd rather be. The experience was very helpful in terms of getting to grips with how to shoot in the studio, using light and different sets, as we did not have these resources when we shot our thriller which we shot in town.

There were three sets up and ready to use when we got there, one which was a plastic sheet with coloured cylindrical lights behind. This set had a track to use so that we could create tracking shots. The next set was a couch with three wooden walls behind it and the last was just a standard green screen set up.

We alternated roles and each had a turn at either performing, using the camera and using the clapperboard. The clapperboard was so that we could time up the audio from the track with the video that we had filmed in the studio so that the lip syncing was in time with the track. I really enjoyed the performance element, and as well as being enjoyable it helped me realise the importance of having an actress/actor who is good at lip syncing for our music video next year as it is not as easy as it looks!

The tracking shot I was familiar as I had used it previously in the thriller, and reflected on the importance of having a good pace when pushing the camera on the track to ensure a smooth shot. Also, when actually on the camera shooting the shot, you need to make sure that you manually move the camera whilst it moves on the track to make sure that the subject is kept in frame.

After shooting everything, we took a break and made our way to the editing suite, where we uploaded the footage and began to edit on Final Cut Pro, which we were of course familiar with from the Thriller editing, However it was very different editing to the editing in the thriller, as you had to worry about a plethora of other aspects such as timing the audio with the track (which is where the clapperboard becomes useful) and also cutting all the different shots around each other to make the footage in the chronological order of the song.

After figuring that out the rest of the editing was pretty straight forward and the finished product was good and I was happy with it as it taught me a lot.

Comparing Star Image in Album covers

When artists bring out their album, the album cover usually communicates their star image.

For example, in Amy Mcdonald's album cover for 'This is the Life' her look is very understated. She has very subtle make up on her lips and eyes and her hair is styled in a very normal and simplistic fashion. She is also not wearing much jewellery, and she is holding a guitar which suggests that she plays very acoustic and stripped down singer/songwriter music. This will attract a certain demographic who enjoy acoustic music.

The font on the album cover is also very simplistic and the name is in bold, which could be to put out her name to make the name known, as the title of the album is just an outlined font and is not emphasised. Furthermore, she is looking down in a very pensive fashion and as a whole the album cover presents an understated image for Amy Mcdonald.

In contrast, Beyoncé's album cover is far different. She is topless with only a fur coat to cover some of her upper half, and she is heavily made up to present a more sexualised star image. She also has very wild hair and is wearing a golden bracelet.

While Beyoncé presents a sexy image it is not that promiscuous and she is presented in a more tasteful way than perhaps another similar artist would on their album cover. The font further promotes this idea, as it is a very classy refined font.

Beyoncé produces pop/R&B music and the look she presents fits this genre, as being sexy and looking good is important in pop culture and in that particular market.

In conclusion, there is a definite contrast between the two polar opposite artists in the way they present themselves to their fan bases.

Analysis of a narrative within a music video: Stan - Eminem ft. Dido

Eminem's 'Stan' is a perfect example of a narrative within a music video. The narrative follows the life of a young man (Stan) trying to emulate Eminem, obviously intensely influenced by Eminem's Star image, he writes letters to his idol and explains how similar their lives are. He also makes himself look physically similar by dying his hair blonde and wearing the same clothes.

The music video is basically Eminem responding to Stan and explaining to him that he should not be reckless, and in doing this Eminem distances himself from his Star persona. This helps the audience connect more with Eminem and relate as it distances the celebrity from the person and puts them on a similar level.

The character Stan is so heavily influenced by Eminem that he even acts out a line in Eminem's song 'Kim' where he explains how he locked his wife in the boot of his car.

Since the story is a narrative it has a beginning middle and conclusion. The way that the song tells the story so well makes it very easy for the narrative to follow the song and they work very well together.

Dido plays the roll of Stan's girlfriend which is odd as she is the other main artist on the track yet she has a roll lesser than the actor in the narrative who is not an artist, however, it adds to the originality and Eminem-style vibe of the video.

The Star Image Eminem is separating himself from in this music video is the 'Slim Shady' image that he promoted on previous albums where he preached much more violently and this track was his turning away point from that star image and he is now much more positive in his music, and I think that this music video shows why he has decided to preach more positively as it was previously having negative effects on his fan base.

Analysing star image in music videos: 5 Seconds Of Summer (Rock/Pop)

5 Seconds of Summer present themselves as a teen pop/rock band in their music video for 5 Seconds of Summer, however they have broken the mould of entering the market as a clean cut group of young boys like one direction, instead they are a little more edgy.

The lead singer has a lip singer and there are two guitarists, one of which has tattoos, and the other has a crazy peroxide hairstyle with a  black stripe in it and ripped sleeveless clothing. The video is a combination of a performance (in a sort of alley) and a compilation of multiple narratives.

The performance in the alley persists throughout the video and involves them singing/performing to the camera, playing their instruments which follows the rock music video stereotype. The narratives include different scenes of very different people (prisoners/people in a grocery shop/policemen/people in court/ teens in school) all getting undressed. I think that the message of the video is to show that although the people are all very different they are all human and all the same? I'm not sure as it is very bizarre! However this is my reading of it.

The fact that it has people getting undressed and the band look rather alternative/ edgy would indicate that they are not aiming to the young pop demographic that perhaps one direction started with, and are instead aiming for a slightly older teenage demographic who enjoy rock/pop.

In conclusion, since rock and roll has been absent from mainstream music for a while, I feel like 5 Seconds of Summer are the return of mainstream rock to the mainstream media, however it is a sugarcoated pop rock as rock and roll doesn't appeal to the mainstream audience these days and so they are an edgy pop rock group appealing to teenagers.