7. Similar music video analysis

The music video I am analysing is ‘blink 182 all the small things’. This is another band similar to ‘newfound glory’ and its genre, pop-punk. They are also signed to Geffen records, same as ‘newfound glory’.

The videos main stand out feature is the continuous parodying of artists that do not follow the same stylistics that make pop-punk. These consist of Christina Aguilera’s ‘genie in a bottle’ video, backstreet boys ‘I want it that way’ and more. This music video by blink 182 helps to establish them as a comical pop-punk band. After my continuous research throughout pop-punk music videos, this seems to be the style/look they all tend to strive for…..a humorous one. The interesting use of locations mimicking the artists they are parodying makes it interesting to look at as it entices you to see more as well as whom else is going to be targeted next. One that works very well is the evening shot of the band lying on the beach picking daisies together. This is the Christina parody shot. Specific dress attire used again mimics the artists they are copying such as the all white suits previously worn by ‘backstreet boys’. This is very beneficial as it makes the viewer instantly aware of who is being copied. Only the popular music videos are what’s being parodied as this will be easier for the viewer to notice. On most of the performances the panning shot is used (left to right and vice versa). Some including a fish bowl lens. Similarities of performance cinematography can be seen between the sum41 song ‘into deep’ and ‘all the small things’.

Throughout the music video the action that is seen on screen cuts to the beat of the song perfectly. This is something that every music video does simultaneously apart from the ones that are deliberately trying to make it uncomfortable, even then its pretty closely cut still. Solo instrumentals are specially used on the drummer and the majority of the artists singing along to the song. Its possible that the drummer is used due to the fact that they are usually at the back of the band when performing therefore not spending to much time in front of the camera. This way, the inclusion of him erases the possibilities of excluding him from the public eye.

This music video is to be sold as a parody of past artists music videos. Blink 182 have been promoted especially in this music video as a band that do-not take themselves too seriously. Something that has been stressed to the fans of the music also. Again, as mentioned before, pop-punk genre seems to follow this mantra through their music and music videos alike. If a newfound glory video were to be watched and then a blink 182 or a sum 41 music video next. There would be instant recognition that pop-punk is what’s being viewed just by the style of childish humour that’s gets expressed.

Voyeurism is rampant throughout the video, mainly of the band but also there happens to be a lone women in the shoot who just so happens to be semi naked and attractive. As well as this there also contains a lot of hip gyrating from band members to entice a sexual meaning from this, or to just take the pee out of past music videos. This video might appeal also to a gay following due to the alluring glances of the semi naked band even though it is all in humorous manner.

The use of Intertextual references is the main idea/purpose for this music video. As mentioned before, a large deal of the music video is filled with parodies of past music videos such as Christina Aguilera’s ‘genie in a bottle’. The way in which its used is by using aspects of the locations, lighting and clothes that were from the previous music videos and integrating them into the bands imitative take of it. Blink 182 music video ‘all the small things’ is performance based. It sees the band performing but to how the original artist they are imitating would have done so. Such as Christina Aguilera was laying by a beach surrounded by flowers. In this the lead singer of blink 182 does the same thing. Overall the music video promotes the band very well. They show what type of band your dealing with which in this case a band that doesn’t take themselves too seriously and what’s to make pop-punk genre something where fun is all that is to be had. From previous pop promos such as ‘what’s my age again’ there seems to be a continually naked themed approach to some of blink 182 music videos. This helps to initiate their fun approach to music/life and this is also re-initiated into ‘all the small things’. This therefore keeps the audience/fans of the band understandable of what to expect when watching them. 　　

14. Group diary through the pre-production stage

• January 2011 has begun and in doing so so has the planning for the filming of our music video ‘kiss me’ performed by house. So far the ideas from myself, Rita and Emily are being scanned through and an overall agreement will be made very soon as to which ideas will be used. First things are to correlate the whole pop promo making sure aspects that are to be used will have a matching style throughout. This will therefore make the overall pop package themed towards HOUSE making it easier to be made aware who and what your looking for.

• 
  
  
  
  Mid January:- After much deliberating we have decided to use Emily’s idea as the narrative. It follows a young couple through their relationship from the beginning through to the near end, transitioning between young couple and old. We will be including my idea of filming this via a split screen technique. This way we can focus on certain affections such as holding hands in one half of the screen and a sexual gaze/kiss from either male or female in the other side of the screen. Rita’s idea of mise-en-scene such as dress attire and locations were taken into account and an overall agreement on location was achieved. The location would be within a park and using a stand out object in the park such as a tree would be where our couple in love would continually go back to. This would also help show the transition from the young aged couple to old aged couple.




• 
  
  
  
  February:- The bands live performance has been shot!!! HOORAH The cogs have finally begun moving as the music video has moved in the production phase. We used the studio in the media department at 6th form and darkened in with black cloth. We then used lighting to develop shadows upon our band members faces and body and back lights to allow light to shine upon the groups figures. This gave out a nice effect especially on the lead guitarist. The only problem we seemed to have was that the studio was quite small therefore we couldn’t help but shoot some of the ceiling as well as some of the members of the band were extremely camera shy whilst others weren’t. This then made some of the shots of the awkward band members hard to use as it was quite dull to be seen!




• 
  
  
  
  Mid February:- Editing has been underway for a while now and the main cause for concern was that we hadn’t shot enough different shots of the bands performance. This wouldn’t have been such a problem if I song wasn’t so fast pace. This therefore needs constant cuts to the music especially when it speeds up during the chorus. This would therefore keep a continuous flow of music:visual, which would also be pleasing aesthetically. this in mind, we are still awaiting our couple of actors who will be playing the part of the narrative which means that more shot sequences will be on the way




• 
  
  
  
  March:- Disaster has occurred! The narrative contained flaws to the overall plan. This therefore has caused we, the group to rethink the whole narrative and approach it at a different perspective. The problems we had firstly were the technicalities of what we were trying to achieve in the sense of a split screen styled music video. Secondly we couldn’t find ANY actors young and or old willing to act romantically in front of the camera. Thirdly, we were running out of time fast. The final deadline for coursework isn’t too far away so our previous idea for a narrative had to be scrapped. The new idea is to collect a vast amount of shots of kissing couples from the general public. This will give the video a more natural feeling. Though the possibility of getting some very negative feedback from the general public is a given! 　




• 
  
  
  
  Mid march:- Ok. Finally we have all the necessary shots that are required to finish of this music video production. With the inclusion of our kissing couples, the video not only will have this natural, comfortable feeling of seeing happy couples kissing but it will also contain a live performance of the band which should make it seem to the viewer that they are there watching this occur. that’s the idea anyway. After the editing is finally finished I will post an overview of what was good/what was bad and what needs to be changed after receiving feedback from the panel of viewers. 　

7.Similar music video analysis

I am analyzing the video ‘into deep’ by sum 41.

A band similar to ‘newfound glory’ who are the band that HOUSE have covered for our pop promotion.
The genre this type of music belongs to is Pop Punk. You can see this by the way the lead vocalists hair is styled which looks similar to how Sid Viscous used to have his during his days in the band ‘the sex pistols’.
The pop characteristics can be seen through how bright and colorful not only the video is but also through the clothes that the band and extras wear.

The visual stylistics throughout the video are to show a light side to ‘getting into deep’ in a relationship.
This is portrayed through the clothing worn through many people in the video. The clothes are almost all very colorful. The day is also sunny so I am assuming this is representing a typical college American atmosphere. The location is at a swimming pool which seems very fitting alongside the songs title.
The majority of shots are long shots, mid shots and close ups mainly to allow most of the narrative and band performance to be seen.
There are also large amounts of zooming in and out of the band performance possibly by the main camera being mounting on wire, capturing a wide range of shots of the performance.

The Relationships between visuals can be seen almost immediately when the band approaches the diving centre. From here you can see where this video is going, for instance “I’m into too deep” is followed by shots of the band vs. jocks in a diving competition.

The Relationship between the music and visuals is perfectly in sync throughout the video.
On certain drum beats the shots of the bands performance and the narrative change by jump cut. If this wasn’t the case then it would be quite messy and uncomfortable to watch because of its out of beat theme of style.
There are solo instrumental parts of the song that are highlighted to make them more visual when watching the video. The one in particular is when the lead guitarist does his dive into the pool and then raises out of the water to do his solo. Once completed he the sinks back into the pool.

The band sum 41 have been presented as a punk pop band due to there not so serious music videos and their light clothing that’s worn throughout most of their performances. This hasn’t changed for ‘into deep’ as they continue to be represented as a pop punk band. This is most probably done on purpose to keep those that buy into the band happy.
The type of music video is very different to their previous music video ‘fat lip’ in the sense of location, extras used and clothes worn.
Fat lip instead has a darker feel. The location is at abandoned land at the side of motorways, the band shave off a girl’s hair, teenage girls being sick behind dustbins whilst the general idea of the music video is to cause havoc amongst each other. Somehow very alike the genre pop punk and the ideology they pursuit.
All in all a completely different feel compared to ‘into deep’.
Though the lead singer keeps his ‘Sid viscous’ like hair style and the band stick to their colorful dress attire, so particular style motifs have been kept.

The video is a mixture of performance and narrative.
This can be seen by the division between the band performance and the diving competition between punk and jock!
The video promotes the band well in the sense that they can defeat the competition in the narrative, so why can they not defeat the competition that is the industry and the numerous amounts of bands and artists. On top of this the image of sum41 is further pushed as being a more colorful pop-punk band. This is achieved (as mentioned before) by the clothes that are worn and the location of the video which is a sun fuelled day in an American pool.
Still staying true to the punk homage by skulls being hung from the drum kit and certain hairstyles still being used.
The audience it is aimed at would be fans of the pop-punk genre. The age range would be from early teens to late 20’s.

.3 What makes a good pop promo

A good pop promo contains a variety of conventions increasing the chance of not only it being repeated in viewings but to also develop the popularity of the band and to increase its numbers of fans and numbers of earnings.
The relationships between visuals and musichelp portray the message or story the song is trying to bring across to the listeners.A great band in doing so would be Coldplay.

Whether it’s a pop promotion of themselves or a live performance. Messages are always included such as the markings on lead singers Chris martins hand. Instantly this caused interest and when asked he exclaimed it to be about fighting for fairer trade as well as looking after the environment. All this from having two black lines on your hands which are always on show due to him being a pianist.

Musical genres each have their own codes and conventions which help cause an understanding to the viewer on what type of music they are listening to just from how the band are dressed. Mise en scene is most likely to be the m

ost important part of a pop promo due to its ability to instantly create

the genre of music through what you are seeing from the get go.
For example if you were to see slipknot come onto your screen you’d know straight away that it is definitely not going to be classical. Also due to their brilliant advertising they have managed to develop their own star iconography due to you instantly knowing who they are and what their genre of music is.
Slipknots star vehicle would be the music videos that they have created which mainly consist of out of control parties or disruptive families in poverty.

Music videos in its own right helps many bands to further their career and earnings due to it constructing bands and driving them towards their own iconography that’s seen today.

The star power consists of a variety of different aspects of the music industry but also business in general.

Firstly the power of economic increase create further revenue for the band which in turn means that they will be around for longer and this is in the form of CD sales, gig tickets sales, merchandise of the band etc.
Secondly the power of the artist. This allows them to develop their own image (or how their owner wants them to look) and how they want to be portrayed and as mentioned before, slipknot have chosen to bear masks which can only be described as modifications from films such as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre to Jason X which also covers the star image.

An artists star image is very dependable on how they are to be viewed from the public though other influences can depend on their star images also.

Some require extra textual publicity such as Jordan aka Katie Price whose character feeds of media publications and stories being made about her such as those from glossy magazines like heat. If these magazines weren’t to write about her then her celebrity status would not exist. Some artists or celebrities strive for this media spotlight whilst others do-not.

Excess media stories can have a detrimental effect on an artists image, causing them to be seen under a new light which they may not have wanted to be under.

Intertextuality within some pop promos help to hide messages that either do or do not want to be seen within

them. With this if something is believed to be seen this causes deeper attention to be attained from the viewer leading to the overall bands song to be listened to and their performance to be watched. Examples of this would be Bjorks ‘ its oh so quiet’ which incorporates a lot of old style America in the 50’s as well as intertexuality from films such as the wizard of oz.
Voyeurism and exhibitionism also generates a deeper ability to hold

someone attention due to the fact that if someone beautiful is placed onto screen then this will draw the persons attention to it. This understanding has then been converted into pop promo’s to gain a wider viewing of the song, especially if a certain celebrity is to be seen within the clip.

11. Individual idea for CD cover & magazine advert

Our music promo is covering a broad spectrum of shots and characters. The finalised idea for the music video is to have part narrative of a couple in love walking and flirting but also to have a wide variety of shots of couples and friends kissing seeing that this is the main idea of the song, as well as performances from our band who have pre-recorded the song.

So…the CD cover and magazine advert will both be similar in the sense of the design.
The design will be stills from our kissing couples and arranged into a collage covering the entire front and back of the cd. The colours used will be very vibrant and uplifting just like the mood that is felt when in love.
Inside of the CD will be a booklet which is found amongst all other CD’s that are brought but in this will be a variety of stories from our kissing couples on how they met and their feelings to one another.

The magazine advert will be the same design as the CD cover but with the addition of details which will include tour dates. Release dates of singles and album and reviews from magazines and interviewees.

4. Music video textual analysis

Frozen by Madonna.

The video that I am analysing is ‘Frozen’ by Madonna. Its genre is pop but it is far from the usual pop promo’s which are usually seen. But for Madonna, it comes across as one of her usual music videos, or at least her past music videos that always seemed to push the boundaries.
Frozen is set in the Mojave desert which is a brilliant location as it is desolate. The action that unfolds between Madonna and her black shawl is mind blowing but due to the mesmerizing vastness yet plain backdrop that is the Mojave desert it helps place most of your attention on to Madonna and the sequences that unfold.
Due to its spiritual sound of the song, this has then been transferred on to the clothing that Madonna wears such as the long black dress and the most noticeable is the jet black hair and her hands that are draped in henna tattoos
The most stand out piece of clothing for me is her transforming black shawl that in itself represents something border lining occult due to the magic that is contains.
The cinematography is so varied throughout but the beginning sets the tone for something brilliant due to the camera traversing forwards across the desert to capture Madonna floating without moving but her shawl is which bring across the magical element of the film. Possibly her shawl is alive, controlling the movements that Madonna performs?
There’s also a large amount of mid shots of Madonna’s yogi-like movements which truly enraptures her and possibly the spiritual stage of her life that she was going through at the time.
The editing combined with the visual stylistics is what I believe truly binds this music video into a work of art. It helps aid the transformation between Madonna and her animal counterparts for instance, when Madonna falls back, she breaks into what can only be described as shards of black crows. Its non-linear such as so many pop promo’s but that’s what makes it so intense. The shots of time passing up in the sky helps elaborate Madonna’s transformation into the spiritual Madonna that we ‘had’ seen. Its also a montage of various shots but very slowly cut to emphasis the tempo of the song.
The main point of the song that has the most obvious Relationship between the music and visuals is within the chorus.
This contains chanting and during this Madonna also moves her hands in a Indian spiritual like dance which again also bring attention to the henna tattoo enabling spiritual comparisons to be made.
This video is definitely performance based which also incorporates the essence of exhibitionistic tendencies in which Madonna, although fully clothed can still have the power to sexually entice the viewer with her gaze which she holds throughout nearly all of the video.
Madonna is being promoted within the film as being this ‘born again’ spiritual figure, excluding the magical shawl though.
Many camera shots include her in either close up or mid shot again placing all of the attention onto her.
The star image has varied drastically from her usual videos but what Madonna does best is continually re-invent herself and her image therefore her star vehicle is what has made most of a difference in transforming through the years of her success.

6. & 10. Synopsis & Treatment for individual pop promo

Synopsis for my pop promo.

My idea for the pop promotion of ‘kiss me’ by newfound glory would be of a couple either sitting together in a café arguing or standing within a public place feuding about something.
The argument wouldn’t be heard due to the pop promo being mainly Non-digetic sound.
All that would be in the background would be the song.
Band members would be seen throughout the video at different points either performing or just playing a cameo in their video.
Once the chorus comes in which is ‘kiss me’ the enraged couple will forget what they were arguing about and embrace passionately.
This will not last for long though because by the time the chorus stops, so too do the couple and they both revert back to their bickering tendencies.

Treatment.

Cinematography
During the narrative the couple will be caught in a mid-shot to show their hand gestures which will clearly indicate a fight is being had. This may have been hard to make out if a mid-shot wasn’t used due to you not actually ever hearing the couple argue.
A split screen type of approach will be used to capture different parts of the arguing couples to make it more attractive. This will therefore focus in on parts of the face to show anger/distress more clearly.
Similar to ’alors on danse’, a French dance track which is completely split screen.
(See video embedded)

In the background will be the bad sitting, watching, talking amongst themselves and pointing at what is happening.
To allow this to happen, the camera will have to be on manual focus to allow shots to cause the couple to go out of focus and the band in the background to come into focus.

Once the chorus comes into play the mid-shot will become slow motion showing the two embrace.
This will either stand out very clearly and look brilliant with the fast paced ‘kiss me’ chorus or it will look very uncomfortable amongst the fast paced tempo of the song.
Once the chorus starts to finish and the next verse come into play, the video will then revert back to its previous pace.

Editing
The editing will follow a non-linear approach in the sense that the action being seen with the couple will be edited in with the bands performance therefore we will be jumping between the two different forms of performance.
With the bands performance, the editing of the shots that will be taken will obviously be jump cuts. These are pre-dominantly what are used throughout most music videos that are seen on MTV etc.
Jump cuts therefore will allow different angles of the bands performance to be seen, adding more variety to the video.
During the narrative part of the pop promo the majority of the action to be recorded will be linear because of the small amounts of shot types being used. I.e. mainly mid shots and close ups.
Jump cuts will be included during the attempted split screen shots to show areas of emotion and movement that are needed to be seen to be able to represent the feelings being felt between the two.

Mise En Scene
Obviously the couple will be dressed in normal clothes because they will be arguing in a public place and I want it to look as if isn’t a staged piece of performance but the band will wear something that will signify that they are the band whether it be a bright bracelet or the same motif cladded t-shirts.

Sound
The sound will be all Non-Digetic which will be the song that is trying to be promoted. ‘Kiss Me’