We have large flat screens around college that people advertise meetings/ counselling and general activities coming up in college. I took the opportunity to create a PowerPoint slide and spoke to Alan Woodcock for permission to advertise. He gave me permission and told me to email my slide to the office department which i did and now it is on loop from start to the end of college all day. This is to attract dancer's attention to come and be apart of my music video.
This costume is for a particular section of the song. The lyrics are, "My persuasion can build a nation, endless power without love we can devour. You'll do anything for me." The costume intends to make her look wealthy and powerful. The gold symbolises wealth and gives a Roman/Egyptian goddess feel to the look. I will contrast the feature gold jewellery with a simple but elegant black dress. She will also have dramatic black smokey eye make-up and possibly gold glitter lips and long black nails. I may also attach long, thick eyelashes to the bottom of her eyelashes like in the images I have looked at for my costumes. I still need to test this out. The hair will also be tidy, scraped back tightly with hair spray and a more dramatic bun on her head.
I looked at tribal like costumes with vivid colour and print. I also looked at animal printed fabrics to create a cultural feel which relates to my music. I like the animal harem trousers but I don't feel any of these clothes could be used for my video. This is because I want more exposed flesh, leather and military feel. This is what I will next research.
Today I went into some A2/AS Dance and performing arts lessons. I spoke about what it was that I was doing and tried to get people interested in taking part. This is what i said..
"Hi my name is Harley and i am creating a Music Video for the song Beyonce- Who run the world (girls), for my A2 Media portfolio. I need a few female dancers who are good at hip-hop and street dance with confidence and who can bring attitude to the video. It wont take up much of your time I just need a few rehersals of the choreography and a day or two to film on location. if anyone is interested please leave your name and S number (student number) with your teacher and I will email you a day where we can meet and go through choreography. Thank you."
My target audience is female bias with a ratio of 70/30. The prominent age range being 16-19 belonging to the social class group E. The majority being college students means they are earning very little with the aspiration and patience of earning much more in the future, the audience are intelligent with critical judgement of music, fashion and art. My audience are very fashion orientated, always keeping up to date with new trends and celebrity style. They are always checking their Twitter and Facebook accounts to keep up with artists and new music. My audience spend on average 3 hours per week YouTube-ing current music and download music every week, generally illegally, to keep their play list fresh and up to date. My audience like to dance, party and have fun after a week of studying so having a good time is very important to them.
From analysing these videos I have learned the appropriate mainstream conventions for constructing my own music video. I have also learned how to link these with the genre. I now understand the different approaches to structure available for my video. I have learned how to use appropriate continuous colour schemes, matching action with lyrics and how to represent strong connotations through costuming, mise-en-scene and colour, I have also learned how to appropriately edit the video in relation to the speed of the track.
Written By: BC Jean and Toby Gad Director: Jake Nava Genre: Pop/ Folk Rock Structure: Narrative
Beyonce plays the part of the girlfriend in the relationship between the two character's on screen. There is an obvious trust issue between the couple as there are suspects of the male cheating on her. Beyonce tries to take the point of view of the male and steps in his shoes for a day. She is expressing her views of the male species and how they miss signals from their girlfriends when they are upset and their general attitudes towards life and relationships.
The whole video is in black and white as opposed to colour which gives the video an archaic feel. The video resembles that of something from the past as though to connote a re-occurrence of events - maybe he has cheated before and it is as plain as 'black and white'. The use of colour could also represent a gender conflict or opposition between two sexes. Black and white is used to show contrast and here we can see it is being used for a contrast of views.
We see Beyonce, a female, in a mans role. She dresses in a police uniform made up of a cap, ray ban aviators, a shirt, trousers and black boots. This uniform displays a strong role in the relationship and as the police are seen as dominant figures of society. The uniform makes Beyonce appear in control and of fair and honest standards, as though we should see her view as one society agrees with, so the audience understand her views in the video through this aspect. In the 50's and 60's a job as a police officer was seen as a male dominating role and women weren't generally seen 'on the job'. The black and white ties into this idea as though these archaic concepts are related to this current event all make her male role more obvious to the audience.
Beyonce displays male qualities and things that we associate with the male gender. For example, through the use of a medium two-shot we see Beyonce grab, what appears to be a criminal, by the arms and slam him onto a police car. This gives a very violent aspect to her character and shows men as violent species. This gives the audience negative attitudes towards the man in the relationship and takes sides with her. It is also an unusual viewing experience for the audience as they arn't as used to seeing a women as opposed to a man act in a violent way.
Meanwhile, through the use of a low angle medium shot, we can see Beyonce's male co-worker acting voyeuristic by staring at the lead's bottom as she bends over. Her bottom is framed left at an extreme close-up proximity for the audience, so we are forced to look at her bottom two, given use almost the p.o.v of another male onlooker. The man is also dressed in the same police uniform as the lead which makes the act of voyeurism seem more unnatural, almost corrupt of the officer to do so. This makes the audience feel all the more negative towards the man in the relationship.
In the setting of the shooting range we see the artist helping the co-worker to improve his shooting. What we are seeing a fantasy of Beyonce's imagination depicting her taking the role of her lover. Again this is connoting violence among the male species and helps to build up a negative view of her lover through a medium close up two-shot. The black and grey shooting range clothing continues the theme of black and white reinforcing the contrast between the two genders. It also gives Beyonce a male appearance to help establish her role as her male lover. In this violent action we see a moment of tenderness as Beyonce seems to lovingly touch her coworkers Adam, again through the two-shot. This subtly suggest an attempt to cheat on her partner which resembles herself, making the audience all the more empathetic towards the artist. As she is in his shoes the audience feel as though they are in here's.
We also see, through the use of a low angle medium shot, the man sitting vulnerably at the table eating breakfast. Beyonce walks in, takes a bite of food which he had prepared, looks at the man with hopelessness and walks out of the door. We feel sorry for the man inscene but our feelings are translated onto Beyoncé as we are seeing her in the alternate role of the male. This scene expresses her efforts to make things right between them and the hopelessness that is mutually felt in the relationship.
Another scene of voyeurism is show through the use of a long shot jump cut to a medium close-up where Beyonce is in, what feels like a males changing room, as she undresses, (a tradition act related to the police force's culture). She is in a black bra, again continuing the colour scheme, and she looks over her left shoulder and smiles at someone outside of the camera. We, the audience, believe it to be the police co-worker, further suggesting the idea of cheating on the other partner. We the audience are watching her undress as is the potential male in the changing room.
A master shot shows the lead with her police co-workers, including the male friend, around a restaurant table. The warm lighting suggest an environment she feels comfortable in, the mise-en-scene provides a 'diner' environment with sugar, salt and pepper pots in the middle of the table and the fact they are seated in the window, typical of a restaurant. The man in the relationship texts her and she ignores him which directly corporates with the lyrics of the song. For example, "Tell everyone it's broken, so they think that I was sleeping alone." This seems to be a repeating convention of mainstream music videos, to match the action to the lyrics. Again this builds up a negative view of the man. Use of medium close-ups are used to show the lead and the man to reveal their emotions to the audience.
Finally a clear image is presented to the audience where Beyonce is dancing sexually with her male co-worker, the audience see this through a long P.O.V shot of the male/Beyoncé. A medium close-up is used to reveal her shock when she realises he is watching and she passes her drink to the co-worker and walks to her boyfriend. A long two-shot shows her trying to explain to him but he has none of it. The audience imagine the roles reversed and more empty is felt towards Beyoncé as we see her upset net and frustration with him. The colour black again is prominent in the scene as Beyonce wears a black dress, this connotes the evilness ofher actions against her lover. Black is also associated with funerals so the black dress could represent the death of their relationship, and the end of an era.
A break down section is included in the video where the music is faded revealing diegetic sound of the character's conversation. A long two-shot is used while they converse again the colour black is evident in their costuming, Beyonce wearing the same outfit previously. A clever twist is used in the dialogue when Beyonce says, "it's not like I'm sleeping with the guy." they both say in unison, "what?" there is a long pause, and the male says, "I said, its not like I'm sleeping with the girl." This changes him from being vulnerable in the situation to being the antagonist. Realisation hits the audience and confirms the alternate twist of views through the video. A medium close-up reveals a tear from the artist 's eyes and the audience can't help but understand her sadness. We understand the video is a depiction of her imagination of the frustration of her lover's ways.
In the introduction there was a long shot of Beyonce leaving her home, entering her work vehicle with the male co-worker in the car and dressed her her police outfit. After the break down section the cinematography is completely copied but with the male in his uniform. When he gets into the car there is a female police officer in the drivers seat. We now understand and can see the bigger picture. Beyonce is sad over suspicions her boyfriend is cheating on her with a woman from work. The audience are left feeling touched and emotional.
Summary
From analysing this video I have seen the use of clever breakdown and speech manipulation to create a twist within a video. I have also learned how to appropriately match the on screen action with the lyrics of the chosen song. I have found how to achieve a continuous symbolic colour scheme to link appropriate scenes and meaning together. Finally, I have learned how to achieve a powerful video with a small cast of 4 main characters.
The music video shows Madonna being interrogated and tortured for secret information. The shots are realistic and create a high production value similar to that of a film. The song and video is based on James Bond’s “Die another Day” movie and is full of intertextual references relating to the film. There are scenes of two Madonna’s, one dressed in white and one in black. They start by fencing each other which gets more and more out of hand, turning into a fight to the death. These scenes are juxtaposed with the interrogation scenes and whenever the Madonna dressed in white or black is cut, a mysterious cut in the exact same place appears on the real Madonna in the interrogation scenes. The audience don’t know why Madonna is being interrogated and at first are unsure which fencer she is. The lyrics say, “I’m gunna destroy, my ego.” this shows us that the two fencers are representing Madonna’s ego as spiritually, ego means “false self”. When the fencers are damasked and the audience see two of Madonna reinforcing this idea and when we see her being cut we work out that Madonna is trying to prevent herself identity from being unveiled to the Chinese.
The start of the fencing scene, which intertextually references a fencing scene from the movie, happens on a red raised platform. The room around it is bright white with four chandeliers suspended from the roof. There are also paintings with white frames and backgrounds which create a wealthy image as fencing is a sport associated with the upper class. The red also holds connotations of danger/ violence/ blood and so works well as part of the Mise-en-scene. One of the paintings is of James Bond in a fencing outfit and we see a CU of a sword stabbing the painting. The location is lit high key and creates a dream like or fantasy feel to the shots. They are juxtaposed with the interrogation shots to create a contrast in lighting and colour but also to show the scenes are coherent and dependent on each other. The colours of costume and makeup represent good vs. evil. She is fighting with the evil side representing her want to give up and tell the Chinese what she knows. Every time the Madonna dressed in black or white is losing the fight or is cut represents her mental and physical struggle with being tortured and creates tension with the audience as to who will survive. The lyrics “Die another day,” suggest the end result before we, as an audience, find out.
The next room of the fantasy sequence is all black and full of glass display cabinets with metal men in armour statues on display. This completely contrasts the last location which was all white. Continuity of the use of colour is created through the shots in terms of costume, make-up and Mise-en-scene which helps to smooth out the cuts. They both attack the glass with medieval axes smashing them to pieces. This represents the want separate from each other and to destroy her ego in the glass. We see a man painting a female manikin gold which is representing Madonna’s attempt of creating the person she wants to be, the ‘perfect person’ so the gold connotes the best of best and contrasts with the black and white Madonna.
The video shows Madonna being dragged into an interrogation room by Asian military. We see her legs trailing along the floor through the use of a CU and she kicks a high heel shoe that is laid on the floor in her path. The shoe is almost unnoticeable and acts as a subtle visual metaphor, connoting the idea that Madonna has broken the stereotypical female, and is displaying a tougher representation. This is an unconventional gender representation but shares similarities with the music video I will produce.
The Mise-on-scene of these shots captures the location perfectly to the standard of a film. There is a large rectangular table which Madonna is seen violently thrown onto by two men through the use of MCU. The room is dimly lit creating an uncomfortable atmosphere. One of the men, wearing a navy coloured military jacket and hat, turns a large spotlight in Madonna’s face. This depicts the scene of an interrogation by using the convention of a spotlight and table.
In the reflection of the CU shot of broken glass we can see the fencing match between the black and white Madonnas develop. The fact it is shown in a reflection reinforces the idea it is fantasy and representing her ego. The transitions between shots are generally ordinary cuts, but at the beginning of the video a special effect transition is used. The shot appears to be viewed from down the barrel of a gun, this is a signature editing feature used in the James Bond movies again producing yet another intertextual reference.
The final shot is of the electric chair and we see Madonna frantically wrapping her arms and hands in rubber straps. This is so that the electricity doesn’t touch her skin but is absorbed by the electricity so she can escape and does exactly that leaving the interrogators confused. The chair then spontaneously burns and Madonna’s tattoo is left engraved into the back support. This shot is juxtaposed with the previous shot of the Madonna dressed in black being pierced in the chest by an arrow and killed. This makes us think the real Madonna has being murdered when the electric chair begins to smoke.
Intertextual References
The video features references to Honey Ryder (from 1962's Dr No), Rosa Klebb and Blofeld's white Persian cat (from 1963's From Russia With Love), Oddjob and Jill Masterson (from 1964's Goldfinger), Tee Hee's metal arm from the 1973 Live and Let Die, Francisco Scaramanga's golden gun from 1974's The Man With The Golden Gun, as well as a spacesuit, a fencing battle in a Venetian glass factory, and a Jaws-like man with metal teeth, all referencing 1979's Moonraker, and even contains a reference to Luke Skywalker's light saber battle with Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. And from the film of the same name, the opening titles torture scene with General Moon, a portrait of the then-Bond Pierce Brosnan from a fight scene with Gustav Graves, and the dual role (in black and white fencing costumes) played by double agent Miranda Frost, herself a protege of Verity, played in the film by Madonna herself. The very end of the video has sparked some discussion as Madonna appears to escape Houdini-like from the electric chair, leaving behind only a smouldering chair with a Hebrew expression לאו, a phrase that can be interpreted as "great escape" or "freedom," one of the "72 Names of God," used in the Kabbalah The video ends with the gun barrel sequence, as Madonna throws open the doors of the torture facility in her escape. The total production costs for the video were over $6,000,000, making it the second most expensive music video ever made, after "Scream" by Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson (Wikipedia)
The video holds an abstract narrative, the shots are very abstract with hidden meanings relating to the song. The video also has many unconventional qualities.
Adele's focus is constantly away from the direct view of the camera. She never looks directly at the audience almost ignoring them or unacknowledging them. The audience almost feel as though they are watching the video through the eyes of the man she is singing about. This is because she doesn't look at the camera as if she is upset with it, like she is upset with the man in her past relationship. This is very unconventional of videos including the soul genre that this song belongs to. The artist usually sing directly to the camera to create an emotional attachment with them and create empathy with the audience. This is breaking that convention giving a detached feel to the video.
Another unconventional feature of the video is that Adele remains seated throughout it. Usually the singer would be shown from a variety of heights or standing. She also stays in the same location in the same spot. The fact she is seated could represent that she feels weak from the relationship break up and staying in the same place could show she is home bound feeling upset and doesn't want to go outside, she feels trapped. It could also represent the fact she is such a powerful singer she doesn't need to stand to wow an audience.
There are repeat use of zooms, especially at the beginning of the video to draw the audiences attention into the performer or the glasses of water on the floor. The technique is being used to pull the audience in and closer to the action. Slow motion is used in the shots of the dancer dressed in black and is dancing in a room full of flour. The room is covered in black dust sheets to contrast against the white flour and there is a bright light in the centre of the ceiling, which joins the back wall. This exaggerates the movement of the flour when it is flung around the room by the black stick she is dancing with. It also trails the material that hangs off the dancers costume.
There are many artistic and abstract shots which create audience interest. One of which is the bottom of the staircase there is a wooden board stood on iron legs at the left of the frame. Pottery is thrown moving from the right of the frame and smashing onto the board on the left of the frame. This is in time with the beat of the music. The person throwing the pottery remains unidentified creating mystery. The room is dimly light with a slight spotlight on the area of action. This could be representing paranormal activity or the violence of her relationship.It could also be seen to represent the artists broken heart or the permanent damage the relationship has caused. This is also very conventional of an abstract narrative as it leaves the audience asking questions.
There are two shots that create continuity between each other when cut between. We are introduce to a room filled with hundreds of glasses of water covering the floor. When the beat kicks the water vibrates. We are then introduced to, again, an unidentified drummer under a stair case. The room is dimly lit with a light bulb above the drummers head. There is a close up of the drummer using the kick drum in time with the beat of the music. These two scenes can be seen to relate as the drummer could be under the room filled with glasses of water, creating sound vibrations to make the water move. Again this is very abstract and dramatic and makes the audience think and work out what is going on in this abandoned house.
The next abstract shot we are confronted with is an empty room with a rounded rectangular dining table, made form dark wood. There is a city made entirely from white paper which covers the whole surface area of the table. Above it are 4 light bulbs suspended. An interesting lighting effect is used her as they dim it creates shadowing over the paper city emphasising the structures. The light bulbs eventually burst seeing a shower of sparks over the paper setting it alight. There are shots of the sparks and fire which are very artistic and mesmerising. This links with the lyric "there's a fire starting in my heart..." This could be seen as a visual metaphor that they put so much energy into their relationship that it overloaded and crashed like if you run to many volts of electricity through a light bulb it explodes. The fact the paper city burns and is destroyed could be symbolic of the destruction he has caused in her life and city.
The shot described in the previous paragraph creates continuity with the shots of the girl dancing in a room filled with flour. Towards the end of the song at the peak of the climax the flour creates so much fog you can only just see the dancer. Also the burning paper has created that much smoke you can barely make out the city structures. So when these shots are cut together they seam continuous and share similar colour matching.
All of the shots are filmed inside the one abandoned building. The room where Adele remains has dust coverings attached to the walls and a square piece of creased material taped to the wall. The chairs and remaining decor together with her classic black dress and over large bun with simplistic make up produce a very wealthy and sophisticatedimage. This ties in with the lyric "We could have had it all..." which is repeated through the chorus of the song, as the location remains constant this, like the lyric, is repeated through the structure of the video. The black outfits of all three people are related with death, funerals and sadness. The song holds a sad theme throughout. The costume and small cast in very conventional of an abstract narrative but is breaking the conventions of her genre and mainstream music focus.
This is the original music video for my song choice. As you can see the song has had 102,480,392 hits on YouTube alone from people all over the world. Mostly in America, China, Australia and Europe.
I created these posters to go around college to find dancers for my video. I want all girls with great hip hop, street and contemporary skills in dance. I want all the girls to bring something different to the video and be full of attitude and female empowerment like the video is all about.
One of the the locations I want to film on is West Winds Farm located on occupation lane Swanland. The farm has great areas to use for my video. I spoke to a few of the workers there and they directed me to the owners house and I was told to write a letter from my head of department explaining what it was I wanted to do.
The song I have chosen to focus the production of my music video on is “Beyoncé – Run the World (Girls).” It reached the top ten in Australia, Belgium, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, and South Korea; and was also a top twenty hit in Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The song includes samples of "Pon de Floor" by Major Lazer, following the same alternative hip hop-dancehall genres, mixed with Knowles' pop and R&B styles creating a hybrid genre.
This hybrid genre should provide a lot of complex, upbeat dance sequences performed in a group. The dance styles could be Hip-hop, Street, B-boying (break dancing), Popping, Locking, Studio Hip-hop, Improvisation, pedestrian movement, Liquid dancing, crumping, even contemporary. Or a combination, there could also be contemporary elements like is even ballet in the Kanye West – “Runaway” R&B music video.Artists of this genre have created their own dance styles for their own music videos such as `LMFAO – “Party rock anthem”, they created a dance craze, the shuffle, for the lyrics “everybody shuffling”
The video should also portray moments of narcissism and voyeurism. Typically mainstream female artists, including Beyoncé, appear sexy and display moments of self-intimacy. If the song, of this genre category, is about love and relationships then there may also be a male or several males being intimate with women/the artist. This display of voyeurism attracts the audience, particularly the male audience. It can also create an aspirational quality, as the female audience want to be like the artist. Examples of this can be shown in Madonna - "vogue" and Wham - "club Tropicana", both from the Pop genre.
Alternative dance-hall music is associated with the clubbing lifestyle and this is typically where this type of music is played. References to drugs and alcohol are frequent in music videos of this kind. This can be seen in Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris -"we found love" of the Electro house dance pop genre. Hand held P.O.V shots combined with erratic movement may be used to represent intoxication. This technique adds interest and climax, and would be coherent with climaxes within the music.
Low angle long shots are conventional of this genre to create power and dominance in the artist. Again, this gives aspirational qualities to the video as the audience look up to the artist, and want to be cool in control and powerful like them. Establishing shots are also used to identify a location; these again are normally very low angled or high angled and can also be shot wide to create a film quality. MCU and CU are used to keep focus on the performer(s) and XCU are often used in these genres to create intimacy or intensity with an audience. It can also be used to make the audience feel uncomfortable. Shot length averages around 2 seconds and it cut rhythmically to the beat of the music. A lengthy shot can be used to contrast this in a section of a song to create a dynamic quality and to manipulate an audience. Shots are often cut into with other footage, usually of an event or location cut with a MCU of the artist miming to the lyrics. These are often cut so that the artists flashes on screen for a fraction of a second creating a strobe editing effect.
We expect high production and performance form this type of genre with the use of exotic locations, special effects, dramatic lighting and creative costumes. Some of these may include explosions, strobe lighting, low lighting, green screening, superimposition; this genre of the music industry is very competitive and so artists are forever coming up with new ideas to impress and entertain the audience. Smoke machines and dry ice are also used to create mystery and atmosphere. They can also be used to set up a club environment.
This particular genre can produce a variety of themes such as, nihilism, nostalgia, sex, romance and rebellion. These themes can be seen through the use of cinematography, mise-en-scene, props, locations and movement. These themes can also cross over and some videos may include more than one.
With this genre being hybrid it becomes eclectic with the mix of mainstream genres and alternative genres. This means that the audience is of a wide range. The audience would be female dominated age ranged between 12-35 and of low social glass groups due to the themes of crime, violence and domination.
I kept a small black book which I wrote and scribbled in whenever I came up with ideas for the video. These including things like shots, costume and locations. I drew basic storyboarding ideas for short sections which I had ideas for.
