Changes to concept

Recently I have had a meeting with my media tutor to discuss changes to my music video concept, as we both agreed it may be too big a concept to fund and organise as a student. Though I am disappointed that I have not been able to produce the exact ideas I have been developing this year, I am however pleased that I am now a great deal less anxious about production of my media product. 

My altered concept is more of a condensed version of my original idea, with the same underlying message about media stigmatisation and self-fulfilling prophecy, but rather than having an organised outdoor concert (unfeasible due to unpredictable winter weather; organising a mass of actors, and filming in one day) the vampire in my music video will do a cross narrative and performance.

 Also, rather than having a gang of vampires running around a quiet neighborhood at night, the vampire in the video will be a loner, which will, in fact, reinforce the idea that the public does not like them. 

My music video will still maintain its indie/alternative conventions (in terms of challenging and conforming) and still has the infrastructure of my desired concept, just with a production that I can better work with. 

Textual Analysis- Laura Mulvey 'Male Gaze'

Laura Mulvey - Male Gaze

Mulvey's theory depicts the vast majority of media productions to be constructed for the consumption of a 'heterosexual male' audience. The theorist describes how women tend to be shown within media to be products of the male character. The key points within her theory, illustrated in 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' are: 

1.The representation of women as a sexual fantasy and from a heterosexual male point of view

2.Scopophilia- the pleasure involved in looking at other peoples bodies 3) Objectification of female characters

3.Patriarchal society

4.Objectification of female characters

5.Active male and passive female

6.Men – controlling subjects

7.Women as an image

8.Men do the looking and the women are there to be looked at

9.Needs of the male ego 

The video begins by showing a male as a controlling subject over a female as he physically restrains her whilst she tries to break free. This is furthered by the lyrics "You're hogging her". The word 'hogging' implies that the female is an object to be used by males and that in this instance the controlling male subject is using her too much and not allowing for the other males within the video to use her as well- I liken this to a group of dribbling 4-year-olds fighting over a Playmobile truck. 

One of the final shots of the music video shows a male riding a motorbike into the sunset with a female on the back- this fulfills the need of the male ego as they are often shown within cinema to be hyper-masculine, slick and cool, seemingly impartial to the attention of other males and solely interested in speed, possessions, attractive women (could be listed under possessions) and designer brands. It makes me queasy. 

The video also adheres to the 8th criteria of the Male Gaze: 'Men do the looking and the women are there to be looked at'. This is shown via an eye match that shows a close-up of Pharell Williams as he sings "Look at your girl- she loves it" followed by a cutaway to a close-up of the female subject dancing in the middle of a revolving stage: epitomising the notion that females in cinema are 'on show' to the male audience. As harmless as this may seem, these conventions have indoctrinated society into believing that women need to expect the attention and objectification of males and have also brainwashed men into believing that there is little consequence in treating a female as a possession or a prize. But there are consequences- a full can of lager over the top of them being one of many. 

Changing music industry

Changing music industry- MTV

MTV (or, Music Television) is an American channel, first launched in 1981, it was the first channel of its kind and has since influenced a massive growth in the number of music channels worldwide. Primarily airing only music videos, MTV has gone on to air reality TV shows such as MTV Cribs, host musical events such as MTV Unplugged and gain a number of daughter channels.  

MTV's original purpose was to play non-stop music videos for 24 hours a day, with people known as VJs (video jockeys) to choose which ones to play. They would also advertise to and inform viewers of music news such as upcoming concerts, album releases, etc.

MTV often sparked controversy in its earlier days, mimicking the Top 40 single charts 

Music Video History

History of Music Videos

There is some debate as to what the first ever music video was: some argue that 'The Jazz Singer' was the first appearance of music and visuals together on screen; some believed it to be Walt Disney's 'Fantasia'; others argued it was Bob Dylan, or The Buggles, and so on. 

Over time, the purpose of music videos has changed. Originally existing in order to promote a single's release, in recent times music videos have been used to illustrate an artist's beliefs, tell a story, provide entertainment and are also being utilised as political statements.



The birth of MTV in 1981 had a massive influence on music video culture. The first video ever to be aired on MTV was 'Video killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles. This was a landmark in music video history as it was the first channel to primarily show music videos 24 hours a day.

Another milestone in music video history was Beastie Boys' 'Sabotage' which was one of the first music videos to use intertextual referencing as a basis for a parody TV episode-esque video in the style of a 70s police show. There were various references to pre-existing crime-fighting shows such as S.W.A.T, Starsky and Hutch, and so on.

Music video influences

Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Heads Will Roll

In coming up with ideas for my own music video, I became heavily influenced by comedy-horror style music videos of the alternative/indie genre. In particular, I found this music video to be captivating, because of the elaborate way in which the events within the music video occur. 

Wolf Alice- You're a germ

Wolf Alice's 'You're a germ' has been an influence on my ideas for my music video, as I like the references to old horror movies such as Night of the living dead, Evil Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre I also liked the idea of having a gory concept in a music video that still managed to be funny or somewhat light-hearted. The inclusion of the band as the main characters in the music video adds satire to the concept.

Kasabian- Vlad the Impaler

Textual analysis- Santigold website

Santigold

For the analysis of a band website task, I decided to look at Santigold's website as I will be using one of her songs for my music video. I wanted to compare her website's aesthetic with her music and image. Santigold has recently released the album '99 cents', which is the current focal point for the website.

Her music videos appear as though they are pop-up windows on her website, overlapping one another in a seemingly unorganised way. The colours on her website consist of bright yellow, pinks and red, and has her album artwork as the skin of her homepage. Fitting in with the title of her album, the icons to take you to different places within the website appear to look like bargain or price stickers.

Advanced portfolio checklist

This is the checklist for my A2 portfolio, I will be referring back to this sheet throughout the year in order to make sure I'm creating posts that are relevant and that will help me achieve the highest marks that I am able to. 

Description		On Blog
RESEASRCH (For all, state how you are going to use this info and where you got the info from)	Audience: ·          How audiences are targeted (market research) ·          Appropriate audience theories (aim for different ones to AS) ·          Consuming habits (when, how, where do people normally consume these products (main and ancillary)?
	Institution: ·          History of that industry/medium. ·          Comparable products (main and ancillary) already available. ·          Key company case study ·          How is the industry regulated? ·          Production process (how made and by whom) ·          Distribution process (how distributed and by whom) ·          Marketing and promotion ·          Well known examples/producers/directors
	Conventional Features: ·          DETAILED textual analysis of at least 3 existing products (main and ancillary).
	Academic Theories: ·          A selection of appropriately chosen theories outlined and your opinion/understanding of the theory outlined. ·          Explanation of how theory will inform your planning decisions.
	Primary Research: At least one of the following… ·          Interview ·          Direct Questioning ·          Textual Analysis
	Secondary Research: At least two of the following… ·          Reference books / text books ·          Internet ·          Seminars ·          Novels ·          Magazines
PLANNING Evidence of ALL planning, no matter how rough, should be on your blog.	Who is your target audience (detailed)?
	·          Development of ideas. ·          What is your company idea? ·          Stylistic influences ·          Brand/style development ·          Pitch to imaginary company ·          Invent own company with its own backstory
	Time and equipment
	Evidence of thought/idea process (main and ancillary) ·          PRINT (layout drafts, text drafts, still image plans, shoot plans, typography, mise-en-scene, setting, colour schemes, character profiles, company/brand, costume) ·          MOVING IMAGE (storyboard, character profiles, setting/location plan, narrative/plot, soundtrack, script, drafts for graphics etc, mise-en-scene, costume)
	Test the market – test out your ideas before completing your final production pieces.
Prod-uction	Final products (main and ancillary) (original copies on disc and copies on the blog)
Evaluation	The questions that must be addressed in the evaluation are: ·          In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? ·          How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? ·          What have you learned from your audience feedback? ·          How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Branching out

This week I have spent a large portion of my free time exploring the depths of music video genre. I started of with critically acclaimed music videos, which I found via NME's  '100 Greatest Music Videos'. From the list I became a bit biased and picked the music videos that I knew of already and enjoyed, or were songs or artists that I enjoyed (but I'll need to be engaged by my influences to want to be influenced by them!) it in

Backwards

I like the idea of doing a music video that shows a sequence of events happening backwards, as it contradicts the conventions of storytelling in that there is a start, a climax and a conclusion: by starting at the end, the conclusion ends up being the audience's interest in what started the sequence of events, the ending of which they're already aware of. In its simpler use, such as the use of it in filming for the Pharcyde's Drop, the backwards technique is visually interesting and can keep a person engaged for quite some time without the plot being very complex or engaging itself.

The pharcyde- drop 



Yeah yeah yeahs- sacrilege 


Alt-J- Breezeblocks

Controversy in music videos

Controversy in music videos

Initially emerging as a way of promoting singles, music videos have become a platform for artists to create or explain the background or story to the lyrics in their songs, in more recent years, music videos have come to challenge conventions by acting as artists' confessions or opinions, political statements and most notably, controversial pieces of media. 

1. The Prodigy- Smack My Bitch Up

released in the mid-90s, 'Smack My Bitch Up' caused massive controversy as a single alone. The video includes hard drug use, violence, sexual scenes and a supposed 'twist' at the end (the video is from the point of view of a woman and not a man, the safest justification). For my first textual analysis I looked at this music video, specifically because of the controversy it received upon release and continues to receive in present day. Prodigy Textual Analysis.

2. Frankie Goes to Hollywood- Relax




Released in 1983, this song and especially the music video sparked outrage among the public, mainly for its references to homosexuality (which, in the 80s, was still considered to be wrong) and its sexual themes (including BDSM).

3. Closer- Nine Inch Nails


With the song itself being highly explicit with its sacrilege and sexual lyrics, as well as swearing in every chorus, the video clearly wasn't going to be a poster for MTV. This music video includes nudity, inferences to animal cruelty, religious mockery and other stuff. It is basically a naughty video.  

Regulators

Regulators

]

Regulators/regulations- A set of rules or guidelines usually agreed (though not legally obligatory) between media organisations and public organisations in order to make media organisations more accountable for what they publish.

In 1990, a black-and-white warning label reading "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" was introduced as a standard for affected records to follow, and was to be placed on the bottom right-hand section of a given product. By May 1992, approximately 225 records had been marked with the warning. 

Contrary to the label's purpose, the explicit content warning began to entice people who wanted to buy records that they may not necessarily have bought before based on the label that the album would have swearing, violent and sexual language or would otherwise not be suitable for minors to listen to. Subsequently, the label had the adverse effect of deterring wide audiences. 

Early edition of the
'Parental Advisory' label

Music Video theorists

Music genre theorists

Here are some theorists and their views on music genres that we learnt about in lesson today:

John Hartley
Argues that 'genres are agents of ideological closure- they limit the meaning-potential of a given text'. He basically aregues that genres act as a sort of straightjacket to an artist or a sort of tether to a genre's conventions.

Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress
Hodge and Kress say genres 'control the behaviour of producers of such texts, and the expectations of potential consumers'.

John Fiske
Fiske views genres as a reflection of the zeitgeist at the time. He says that genres 'embody the crucial ideological concerns of the time in which they are popular'.

Rick Altman
Altman suggest that there's no such thing as a pure genre anymore. He states that genre is progressive in that it will always change. Generic conventions are very much a thing of the past. His theory suggests that audiences in general have become tired of the same strict make up and need more variety to keep them entertained.

One page pitch

One page pitch
Song: Santogold- Lights out
Location: Various locations around Chesterfield

Concept
Both performance and narrative. The performance will tie into the narrative, typical of the alternative music video genre. The video will feature an outdoor gig (a small one in a back garden, for obvious budget reasons) where a band will be playing Lights out, the audience will be the link between the performance and narrative. At the outdoor gig, there will be posters around saying “No vampires”. There will be vampires in the music video, who will act as a metaphor for social stigma or things that I believe some areas of the media try to make people wary or afraid of. Such as assuming teenagers (particularly males) are chaotic because of gang crimes. 

Narrative
During the first verse and chorus there will be an introduction to the performance side of the music video and to the concept of the shared fear and dislike of vampires that the public in the video have. 

The verse that follows the chorus will be introducing a group of vampires running around a quiet suburban neighbourhood causing mischief such as throwing stones at ‘No Vampires’ signs and attempting to drink the blood of household pets. The purpose of this will be to show the effect that hatred and fear has on the social groups that suffer from stigma: the group of vampires will be living up to the media’s representation of them. 

Toward the end of the video, the performance and concept merge together, when the vampires discover the outdoor gig and kill everyone there (comically), completing the ultimate self-fulfilling prophecy cycle.

Concept ideas

Ideas for music video story

For my music video, I want to have elements of both a narrative and a performance. Which means I'll need a story and lip-syncing in the video. From the offset of the year I have been inspired by music video director Richard Ayoade and his black-comedy style videos, which often includes intertextual referencing to things such as horror films and genres. 

In my media lessons, I have been developing the narrative of a vampire who is disliked by people around them because they are a vampire: a creature which is typically associated with horror and is feared among the general public in fictional stories where they exist. 

Instead of the audience fearing the vampire, I want them to be a comical character, being overly nice and just trying to fit in. However at the end of the video I still want them to take an innocent life: I want to create an ambiguous ending whereby the audience are unsure whether the vampire has killed the person because it was their primal instinct, or whether the stigmatisation they face from people has driven them to fulfil what is expected of them by those who create and reinforce the stigma.

Intertextuality in music videos

Intertextuality in music videos

Intertextuality has always been popular within music videos, especially in such a way as to make the video comical or to pay homage to directors, actors and other figures of the media that the band/artist a fans of. I have been researching intertextuality and how its used both prominently and subtly in film and music, as I want to include intertextual referencing to various vampire films in my music video. Here are music videos that I like that use intertextual referencing:

Blur- To The End 

To The End has intertextuality posing as the narrative to the music video. It references a french film from the 60s called 'Lanee Dernier et Marienbad'. Although the whole music video to this Blur song is based on the obscure french feature, it is never explicitly stated and I found out about the film via the Youtube comments on this particular music video.

Nirvana- In Bloom

In Bloom is a music video that parodies performances featured on variety shows in the early 1960s, with Kurt Cobain dressed like Buddy Holly, this referencing is less direct and more general: its referencing no particular variety shows but simply old 1960s televised performances. As well as direct referencing in my music video I want to have more general references, such as acting out folklore about vampires like their sensitivity to light and absence of reflection. 

Song choice

The song I have chosen to make my final music video to is 'Lights out' by Santigold. I chose this song because as far as I am aware, it has no current music video accompaniment, which means that when brainstorming ideas for the video's concept I won't be swayed to try and mimic or recreate the original. As a personal fan of this song and the artist, I already have good knowledge of the song and have listened to it many times. 



I was particularly drawn to the lyrics of the song and upon researching the meaning I found no clear answer.

"Lights Out"

Lights out, shoot up the station
TV's dead, where's there to run?
Watch everybody come undone

Lights out, we'll make it easy, we'll make it fun
Won't let them see now, how they had won
Still I wait another round

Darling
Don't got to worry, you're locked in tight
Darling
Don't got to worry, turn out the light

Wiped out, no concentration
They got us basking in the storm
I watch it as it loses form

I doubt, they could see me; that's what I want
A casualty, but I am upfront
And I know what it's about

Chorus

I'm still here shakin' my head
The one you can't account for
I keep just one step ahead
There's no place to run 

One interpretation I found was that the song was about the public being in constant fear because the media distributes bad news and frightening events. It highlights that we rely heavily on the news and television to direct us in what to be scared about and what not to be. I liked this idea because I want my concept to involve media stigmatisation and well-established fear, but I wanted to counteract the fear that people express in the video with a comical theme which makes the audience not fear the characters at everyone in the video does. 

Genres- ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

In researching music video genres in the hopes of gaining some idea of what type of style to go for in my music video, I have found myself being heavily influenced by that of the alternative genre. Though alternative music is a vast genres that many artists, albums and songs can fall under, i have found that in music videos to alternative music: whether its alternative punk of rock or indie, there seems to be some common themes shared. 
These themes include:

• Violence
• Satire 
• Absurd concepts (such as clowns as real people in Fluorescent Adolescent)
• Cuts between narrative and concept
• and intertextual references to films, eras and other music videos

Here are some of the alternative music videos I have seen which have interested or inspired me in some way:

1. Wolf Alice- You're a germ

I like the consistent intertextual referencing throughout this music video: the titles of the music video bears similarity to the Evil Dead and the location of the music video (a cabin in the woods) fits this film and other productions in the horror genre, like the Until Dawn game. 

2. Parquet courts- Dust




I liked this video by Parquet Courts as I thought that the atmosphere of the video was uncomfortable and strange. because of the amount of superimposition in the video, it's hard to concentrate on one thing in particular, and the dust monster that is barely able to be seen over the footage is strange and eery-looking.

3. Blur- The Universal




Blur's universal is a more obvious intertextual reference to the book and the film 'A Clockwork Orange', with mine-en-scene and concept following one of the scenes from the film where a woman sings Beethoven to a group of men. This also fits with my list of findings in alternative music videos by having the band play the droogs from the film, Damon Alburn of Blur being the main Character Alex. 

Music video director (Case study)

Richard Ayoade

Known most famously for his portrayal of the socially inept IT Consultant Maurice Moss in 'The IT Crowd', Richard Ayoade is a comedian, actor, writer and TV presenter (Gadget and Travel Man). He is perhaps least known for being a director, which is surprising to me, as I believe some of his best work to be in the area of cinematography. He has two feature films under his belt, both of which have been moderately successful, however, Ayoade has quite a portfolio of music videos that he has directed as well. His area of music video directing is often in the indie/alternative genre, whether this is deliberate or from mere opportunity is unknown.

Richard Ayoade was born in Hammersmith, England in 1977, he began his directing in his early days of television work, where he co-wrote and starred in Garth Marenghi's Dark Place, a spoof horror British comedy show. A lot of Ayoade's directing displays satire, especially concerning the horror genre.

I was inspired by Richard Ayoade's tendency to portray horrific events such as a werewolf massacring an audience in Yeah Yeah Yeah's 'Heads will roll' or Vlad the Impaler existing in modern times in a light and comical way in Kasabian's single of the same name. I admire the satire and black comedy in making light of a rather gruesome situation, the way that Ayoade does in numerous videos of his.

I also like Ayoade's style of intertextual referencing, often paying homage to films and genres. For example, the video to 'Vlad the Impaler' by Kasabian has consistent intertextual referencing to that of 'Grindhouse' horrors and the general horror genre of 1970s cinema. This is communicated through colour grading, the after effects on the overall footage and in the conceptual aspect of the music video. There is an obvious connection between lyrics and visuals in that comedian Noel Fielding is portraying the historical figure Vlad the Third, who's nickname was Vlad the Impaler as he used to impale his enemies and leave them to die over days in the forest outside of his castle. By using a comedian to portray a widely considered evil and brutal person of history forms its own satire, and through creating the narrative of Vlad the Impaler in modern times killing people, this creates a kind of black comedy effect. 

Richard Ayoade exhibits a pattern of satire and violence across his music video portfolio, along with Vlad the Impaler, another good example of this is the music video to the single 'Fluorescent Adolescent' by Arctic Monkeys. In this video, a group of clowns and a group of men in black are having a gang fight in an abandoned estate in Sheffield. Straight away the video, though violent, appears light-hearted because of its bizarre inclusion of clowns as 'thugs'. The narrative in this video follows the head clown and the head man of the opposing side who know each other from childhood, which is cut to during the music video. At the end of the video, the clown ends up killing his childhood friend. 

Though overall, the video is quite comical to watch, it does have elements of sadness and is quite uncomfortable, as the characters display emotional connection before trying to kill each other. I would like to try and achieve a similar element to my music video: I want it to be a comical video that people can watch and not take seriously, but that, upon closer inspection, can be shown to display darker themes, such as media stigmatisation and self-fulfilling prophecies, along with an ultimate murder.



Perhaps my favourite music video of Ayoade's is 'Heads Will Roll' by a band called the 'Yeah Yeah Yeahs'. As a fan of all these songs and their artists, I was thrilled to discover that a comedian whom I already admire had also directed these enjoyable pieces. 'Heads will roll' follows a performance/narrative video that blends into one at the end. The band sing to their audience and have a werewolf who dances to their song for the audience (the dancing is also resemblant of Michael Jackson, forming another intertextual reference) and when a blinding light flashes and angers the wolf, he chases after and slaughters everybody in the underground venue.


In my original concept at the beginning of the year, I wanted an outdoor concert where a band perform to an audience in a back garden, and the music video would cut to the narrative of a group of vampires experiencing social stigma in a number of different ways. At the end of the video I was going to have the performance and narrative blend together as the group of vampires invade the concert and kill everybody there. For copious reasons, this concept was rather unfeasible, but it was an idea heavily influenced by this Richard Ayoade music video.

In some ways I would say that my new music video concept is more akin to the 'Vlad the Impaler' music video, but that's more down to the character and its comical deliverance rather than the plot.