Audience Research

I created a survey to my audience which will help me gather data on people's opinions and thoughts relating to music videos. 

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SQRDJNL


Response:

Survey: Audience Research from Georgina Fenton

Textual Analysis Video 2

Hypnotic by Zella Day is under the alternative/indie pop category, the same genre of my chosen song and the music video I analysed in my other textual analysis.
The music video does have a western theme to it, this is reinforced by the mise-en-scene through location and costumes. Throughout the video this theme is reinforced although the song isn't a country song so therefore we see a genre cross-over. The initial start of the song sounds similar to the 'cowboy standoff' tune which is played in films when there are two characters having a stand-off.
In the beginning we see an over the shoulder shot from the back of the girl in the car (0.5) The effect of this cinematography brings the audience into the car with her as we can see things from her point of view as we are looking past her shoulder out of the dash board. Outside it is just a horizon however in the next shot after her car breaks down (0.12) we are put back in the same position and see a figure, we are seeing this from her point of view so are unaware who it is.

The next shot is a long-distance establishing shot where we see her car and a man on a horse in front of her. It appears like a 'stale-mate' or standoff situation, like mentioned above with the western theme reinforced. I think in this shot it is key to look at the mise-en-scene. Her car is black and his horse is white, however he is dressed in all black. Black is normally associated with villains and evil and white is seen as a pure, innocent and good colour. As he is dressed in black we may assume he is a villainous character however the white horse could make us uncertain in this so at this point the audience may feel confused about whether they trust him or not. We see the stereotypical western items, the bull horns on the front of the car, the cowboy hat, the horse and the cowboy boots. When she gets out of the car we see she is dressed in all black, she wraps a fur coat around her but once she reaches the horse and the man she drops it. This could signify that she is letting go of any protection and revealing herself to him. When she gets out of the car a shot is shown of the horse and man, the camera zooms out, it then changes to her as she puts her coat on and zooms in on her face. This zoom suggests that she is focused on the man and is desiring him. The audience is brought into her face and we can see her smile confirming that the other view was probably her point of view. It can also show how the man sees her and how she sees him.
When he carries her into the tent it is dark and the tent cloth appears slightly red, this could suggest that he doesn't have good intentions or there is danger inside the tent.

When the chorus starts Zella performs and lip-syncs to the song, this is a convention of alternative pop because it means the artist is selling their song through performance and the audience may be more engaged. In the narrative she is also the main character which does conform to the conventions of having the artist as the main character and performer. This is so that the attention and all focus is on the artist and it helps them to sell and create their star image.  This is similar to Melanie Martinez's video as she performs and lip-syncs whilst also being the main character in the narrative. When creating my own alternative pop video this is a convention I will consider as I think it is useful to reinforce the artist's image. [Picture insert]

The lighting used in the video shows how perspective of lighting can really be used to show someones emotions or how we perceive them. When the shot is directly on Zella the lighting circles around her face highlighting different parts of it. Here are some examples how in the same shot she appears differently:

The cinematography while she is lip-syncing shows aerial shots however they are moving to create this idea of hypnoses, which is the title of the song. The lighting also reinforces this with the various colours, creating moods and feelings for the audience.

With both videos they use video footage which appeared to be slowed down, this gives a smooth look to the video and there is more chance to show the narrative develop and give people time to understand it. When she is climbing onto the horse this is used, her movements seem to be slower than perhaps hopping onto a horse would normally be, this exaggerates the movements. In carousel it is also used when she is on the carousel in the bridge part of the song, the slow motion shows her struggle.

Textual Analysis Video 1

Carousel is an alternative pop music video and song. Performed by Melanie Martinez it is part of her first album Cry Baby. It was first released on her Dollhouse EP and the second music video she released. The song is based on the character Melanie created, 'Cry Baby' and her first love. She wanted it to be magical to capture those first love feelings, and yet still express the dark side of how toxic a one-sided relationship was. The music video does match the idea and images of the song lyrics which for alternative pop videos can be commonly the case. I'm going to do a textual analysis on the video as it is under the same genre as the song which I am looking to produce a music video for. We can analyse a video in terms of LIIAR: Language, institution, ideology, audience and representation. For my textual analysis I am going to focus on the four key areas, editing, cinematography, sound and mise-en-scene.

When we first see Melanie a long-shot is used to establish the scene she is in and show is her as a character. We can see from here her costume and surroundings. By showing this we can see how the rule of thirds is applied. at one side is blue lighting and at the other pink, she is in the middle of the shot. Possibly this could be showing the pink/blue gender stereotypes that she is in the middle of being herself and falling in love with a boy. Her posture makes her appear very 'lost' and confused. She is looking around like she is out of her depth. Her costume is very girly and makes her appear innocent and child-like (the big bow in hair and frilly socks) This portrays her as an vulnerable character. However looking at her hair, half is black and half is blue, the darkness of these colours could depict something darker about the situation or about the character.
At the beginning we see the editing of the horses in the carousel flashing, carousels are associated with the fun fair and children, having the quick flashes and dark background makes the audience feel unnerved and that there is a darker edge to the music video. The horses are lit up blue which could symbolize the male gender or connote sadness, coldness.

In this scene she is looking into a fun house mirror, the editing has duplicated the image and copied it onto the other side. This is effective as it confirms the idea that she is in a fun house, it also shows possible delusion, confusion and mystery from the 'warped' image. The lighting also adds to this image because it is dominantly pink/purple it sets a dark tone which matches the tune of the song.
Editing is used to make Melanie appear like she is 'floating' and chasing the man. The way this is used creates the idea that she has no control over where she is going but she is attracted to him and naturally follows him. Normally when you walk your feet go first however since her head and arms are first it shows how may not be thinking straight and is compelled to follow and reach out to what she wants.  

The editing here shows the man on the left fade out as she says 'It's like you disappear, where'd you go?' Which matches the lyrics. Also I like the effect of the fading out of him but the rest of the scene is the same, for my music video I am potentially looking at doing a similar edit in one of my scenes.  

In the carousel scene we can see that it relates directly to the lyrics with the song describing love as going 'round and round like a carousel' in the previous scene a ticket was offered to her. Now she is on the ride and he is stood in front of her, no matter how long they went on it for he would always be out of reach. The camera shows close-ups of her face and his while they are on here to show the emotion, she is almost speaking to him however his reaction shows that he isn't giving her anything back.

A close-up shows her hands bound in this scene. The colour of the rope, red, suggests love or danger or even both.This is because red is commonly connoted with these. The ropes show how she is stuck on the 'ride' in this case to him, she cannot leave him as she's fallen in love with him. 'Why did you steal my cotton candy heart'. Another theme of the idea of 'fun fair' with the 'cotton candy' there are also two girls on the carousel who are shown to be eating cotton candy. Throughout this song the lyrics commonly are matched in the imagery.

There is diagonal shot used in this image, it is part of a montage showing other diagonal shots and quick paced editing. This gives the audience a sense of unnerving and a dystopian feel. It has also changed the theme of editing where the bridge (or middle eight) occurs in the song. The bridge is the part where a conclusion or outcome of the narrative is generally shown and gives the audience time to reflect on the story. This is shown in the music video as we are beginning to see the ending to the story that she is stuck on the act of loving him and 'You threw it in this damned coin slot' gives the audience the idea that he was careless with her heart.
At the end of the bridge she throws up a pink luminous liquid. This shows how she feels like the love is making her physically sick a similar feeling to that of riding on a 'carousel' for so long that it makes you feel sick. It is almost like the video has been leading up to this point throughout the video, developing the idea that she is falling for this guy and eventually it has overwhelmed her.
The lighting changes after this point and the fun-fair lights have gone out. She is alone and gets off the ride looking around. The lighting is dark and has a blue tone, the lighting makes the audience feel as though she is lost and alone from the darkness. The blue can show a 'cold' and depressing feeling to the fair and her situation.The change of lighting to darkness reflects the creepy fairground theme which has been reoccurring throughout the song. Perhaps this shows a metaphor that love isn't always rosy and 'fun' there are dark parts to it and in her case there is.

In terms of editing the video uses a mixture between slow-motion edits and speeding up the shot. By creating a slower image it allows the audience more time to take in the narrative and see what is happening. From 2.55 onwards we can see that by slowing down the clip it emphasises how she is stuck. Slow motion can also be used to create a visual effect, throughout the video clips of fairground rides are used in slow motion, the fact the rides are empty gives a 'creepy' and 'disturbed' look. It is also aesthetically pleasing for the audience to see the mise-scene of the rides and location.

Overall the lyrics and the video match very well, the way it is presented is engaging and colourful. It does follow the conventions of alternative pop, we see the bright costumes which she wears including pinks, purples, high heels. All her clothing items are quite bold along with her make-up and hair appearance which makes her stand out. It follows the conventions that the narrative is the same in the lyrics and the video. Lip-syncing is also regularly used in alternative pop videos, throughout this video in some scenes it develops the narrative without her lip-syncing and in others she does lip-sync. There is also a performance part in the song where she is directly lip-syncing to the camera and not taking part in the narrative. These elements are what I can consider as I am creating my own alternative pop video. Therefore I will have to consider the structure when it comes to showing the story, lip-syncing and performing.
Close-ups show Melanie throughout the song which draw to her as the main focus and character, commonly in alternative pop videos there is lots of attention drawn to the artist and the appearance of them. We can see this in Carousel as Melanie's style as an artist is shown throughout the video and we see her as an image. This is always shown across all her videos as she has quite an unique style.

History Of Music Videos

A music video is a short film or video clip which accompanies music often called 'promos' as a main function is to promote the song with the use of visual imagery.

The first step towards musical videos was in 1894 when Edward B. Marks an Joe Stern sheet music publishers, as part of promotion for their song "The Little Lost Child", they hired electrician
George Thomas who used a magic lantern (an early model of a image projector) to project still images at live performances. The method became known as 'Illustrated Song'. Although not a music video as such, it was using media image to accompany a song in a live performance which to this day many artists have imagery and visual elements during their live performances.



There is debate surrounding when the first music video was produced. Some say Bob Dylan was the first music video as it was a promotional 2 minute video dedicated to a singular song and had no other purpose than to be a 'trailer'. However other artists had also taken this idea and created small promotional clips like The Beatles. To fully understand how music videos developed we have to recognise what came before which was the idea of promoting music through the use of film and how it progressed into today's modern day music videos.

In the 1950s Elvis, who never played outside of the USA, featured in a film as a way to reach out to fans internationally. It featured his songs but Elvis did not act as himself but a character. It was played in cinemas across the world however was not very highly rated. But this was an introduction to music and moving video imagery being played together for a purpose of selling the music unlike in the films industry where music was created for a certain film to help sell the film. More artists began to take to this idea as a way of promoting their music.

Cliff Richard in 1963 took the same idea where he created a movie called Summer Holiday, using 16 songs and musical numbers within the film. The film was the second most popular movie at the British box office in 1963, however this was not so in the U.S. Within the film Cliff also did not play himself and played a character.

After staring in their first feature film in 1964,  A Hard Day's Night , The Beatles starred in two more feature films and had begun to create promotional videos for their music to be distributed among the US and other countries so they cold promote their work without having to make appearances, this led to The Beatles stopping touring in 1966. Their work was highly thought of and in 1967 they released two colour promotional videos which 'took the promotional film format to a new level'. They used clever editing techniques like slow-motion, reverse camera, dramatic lighting and added colour filters in post-production. Later in the year they released their third film 'Magical Mystery Tour', written and directed by the band. It was shown on the BBC on boxing day however many of the film had colour as a main effect of the film, but unfortunately was aired in black and white. The film received a lot of criticism for its weak narrative however it still shows The Beatles as creative and innovative music video creators.




In 1967 Bob Dylan released a 45 minute film 'Don't Look Back'.   At the beginning of the film he included a 'trailer' which was unrelated to the plot and film. The song was "Subterranean Homesick Blues" a 2:18 clip yet was the first, many would argue, individual music video concept. Although the original idea was to be a promotional film, the music video was recognised by Rolling Stone in 1993's October Rolling Stone magazine in October 1993 in their list of  "100 Top Music Videos" showing even years later the stamp that this video has left on music video history. The video is one shot, Bob Dylan is famous for his lyrics therefore the video is focused on the lyrics of the fast paced song. Below is the trailer.


This video many argue was the pioneer of music videos, which I understand why people would think this. In the shot we have the rule of thirds, the workmen and scaffolding are to the left, the lyrics are central and Bob is to the right, highlighting the lyrics as the most important aspect, however I think the scenario to the left with the work men and scaffolding is still there to represent the working class and to be noticed. After researching I found it is set in the back alley behind a hotel. Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in Westminster, London still to this day. The irony in this video is that Dylan is filming at the back of the hotel, not the front which is a music video we would expect artists to take advantage of glamorous locations however Bob Dylan uses the back of the hotel which can represent Dylan's anti-establishment views.  Although not given a visual developing narrative with a plot the video through the use of mise-en-scene is still creating an ideology we cannot ignore. Bob Dylan is in a back-alley of city which appears quite dirty and like a rough area, from the clothing and the work man to the left generally this conveys the idea of the working class. Bob Dylan's outfit isn't over the top which I think helps him to relate with the audience particularly young males, his image isn't trying to say he's better than anyone because he's famous, like many people may feel is present in modern day music videos. On the cue cards which Dylan helped write, there is deliberate miss-spellings and puns. This could have multiple interpretations, perhaps Dylan waned to intentionally involve some imperfections to spark the audiences attention or it could be to go along with the 'rebellion' idea which is reflected in the lyrics. The pace of the song and movement of the lyrics keeps the audience engaged throughout the whole video therefore there is no need for any editing or different shots as the lyrical work alone is so effective and it has to be said it is impressive how the cue cards are in time with the lyrics. The monochrome video also creates this working-class look because the production company may not of had the money to create the video in colour however I think the lack of colour is effective means the bright white of the paper allows the bold black writing to stand out to the audiences eye.

1975 Bohemian Rhapsody
Queen released the first music video to be taped on magnetic video tape. This was a cheaper and quicker way to make music videos as there was no process of developing. The song spent nine weeks at number one showing how big of an impact their video had. This was played on television programme Top of the Pops which was based around live performances and miming. As the song was deemed hard to mime the band produced the video this also meant that the band did not have to make physical appearances on the show and could still reach their audience. After the success of Bohemian Rhapsody it became more regular for record companies to produce artists promotional videos in order to accompany single releases. Impressively the video was filmed in four hours and cost £4,500. As there was such a rush to get the video to the BBC for broadcasting the editing process was only a total of 5 hours and all special effects was done while recording. Following the first few weeks at number one a more in-depth edit was created of the video with alternative camera angles and superimposed flames over the introduction scenes.


MTV 1980s
With an increase of bands creating videos the question was how people could view these. As the Top of the Pops was mainly artists miming to their songs live there wasn't a platform for people to see all the music videos artists was making. MTV launched in 1981 which was a television programme which had special 'video jockeys' (VD) who picked music videos to air. The first music video shown was 'Video Killed The Radio Star' by The Buggles. So to speak the song could be interpreted to be saying that the invention of 'video' and music videos affectively made radio stars less popular and to have asuccessful hits music videos were needed as a visual.


1980s-2000
MTV created fast proliferation within the music video craze. The 1980s produced memorable music videos like, Sweet Dreams (Eurythmics), Thriller (Michael Jackson), Hungry Like The Wolf (Duran Duran). As the years progressed it became more normal for an artist to release a single along with a music video. The most common theme among them all was that all their music videos always contained a story. This theme started to change during the 1990s as more inexpensive advanced equipment and editing techniques were developed, this allowed artists to experiment with different visual effects and filming techniques. Thus, leading to more advance music videos.

2000s Onwards
From here technology advanced and brought a whole range of new, exciting and complex ways for music videos to be created. When artists release music it is unusual for them to not release a music video especially if its the artists single. Sometimes it is the music video that can create 'talk' and attention around a song, for example Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball video was extremely controversial and caused a lot of media attention around it. Some may say the video was more popular than the song and will be memorable for a very long time. With many indie bands rising into the music industry there are a lot more conceptual videos. Too Much by Pale is one shot of a girl covered in 'goo' the shot is reversed backwards in slow motion and her face is revealed at the end, there isn't a story to it and it is purely an abstract modern music video.

Genre Conventions