I like the use of narrative and mise en scene used in Demi Lovato's "Made In The USA" to give the ideology that we believe life to be like in America such as going to Carnivals and soldiers going to war.
Furthermore I like the use of performance by the Artist (lovato) as well as the narrative of the storyline (Soldier going to war, leaving lover behind) running parallel to it. This is an idea I might use in my video.
P!NK's Try - is a performance based music video that follows the narrative of P!NK and her partner in a relationship that is strained but also full of passion which relates back to the song title 'Try' because they want to try and make the relationship work.
The Mise En Scene of the coloured powder that is on both the performer and sometimes explodes could suggest bruises/scars for example Pink has a yellow powdered eye so it could suggest she's been hit in the face by her partner. However it could also suggest the passion between the two because throughout the video when they touch their explosions of coloured powder therefore it could show the chemistry.
Pink wears a navy see through ripped ankle length dress which could suggest the relationship falling apart where as it being see through creates the impression that they don't hide anything from each other. This costume relates back to Laura Mulvey's Theory (1975) of 'The Male Gaze.' also known as 'Voyeurism' because of the way Pink is displayed in the see through material which shows bare skin and her underwear. Which could possibly attract males to watch the video and make woman desire to be her.
In addition the first shot which is a location shot shows the mise en scene of a dessert which could connote being lost physically or mentally. In this example I believe it is mentally lost/confused within the relationship and not sure of what to do.
It's then followed by a close up of P!NK crawling along the dessert which could suggest desperation and the need for help. The juxtaposition of the two shot together is unconventional and does not follow the rules of film syntax which infers to the viewers that is something bad has happened or is about to happen such as a fight in a relationship.
The ending long shot of the plants in the desert suggests the ideology that life will always get better and moves on even in the most challenging of times.
The sound is diegetic to the artists as they use direct correlation to the beat they dance to and the beat of the music; which is effective because when the melody/beat becomes faster or reaches a climax the dance routine follows and therefore intrigues the audience making them want to buy the song through visuals.
The use of continuity editing allows the viewer to focus on the performance of Pink and her partner which could also give the representation that the fighting is continuous.
Love is Easy - McFly is a performance based music video that reflects "Michael Shores" 1984 Theory of Audio Visual Poetry as it uses recycled styles seen through the Mise En Scene and Sound. For example the costumes which McFly wear - Black Trousers, White Shirt, Orange Tie, Checkered Waist coast and bowling shoes recreates the style from the early 1900's which gives the ideology that McFly are gentlemen because they are dressed in the clothes from an era where wearing suites stereotyped you as a gentleman. Moreover the sound clip from "It's A Wonderful Life" - "You want the moon, just say the word and I'll throw a lasooe around it" has high connotations of love and romance which is the representation McFly are trying to get across in the video. It also create intertexuality as it's addressing other media products outside of the diegesis of the music video.
The video is Performance based as 'McFly' sing in an empty auditorium which could suggest rehearsals and then towards the end there is a panning shot that shows the auditorium full with fans it then pans round back to McFly who are holding a mini stage of the stage they're performing on, the camera zooms in to show them closing the curtains which says 'For The Fans' which suggests that it's the end of the song and the video has been made to say thanks to the fans and that McFly appreciate there support and 'Loving the fans is easy.' This would be the audience of stereotypically young girls aged 13-18 feel like they're connected with McFly and that they're acknowledged by them.
In addition while performing the director has made links with the sound to the imagery for example when Tom sings 'Today I'm laughing the clouds away' while Dougie holds makeshift clouds on a pole above Tom's head when Tom says 'Away' he moves the clouds from above the head; this is used to create a visual video against the audio track.
Moreover the narrative of the video could also be a reflection of their Journey in the music industry up to now, and how much they love playing their music, this can be seen through the use of Mise-en-scene like when Danny is accepting an award at a podium which could suggest when they've won awards. Furthermore the use of the striped colour boards that they sing in front of us is recycled style from one of their first music videos 'Five Colours In Her Hair' when they on a stage with the striped colours as background. The use of this mise en scene connotes Michael Shores theory 1984 theory of recycled styles and how this could be a video reflecting the bands Journey.
The opening shot is a long a shot track, which follows Tom up the stairs onto the stage while he plays a Pink ukulele this effect invites the audience (McFly Fans mainly female aged between 13-25) into the video allowing them to feel a part of it.
The video uses continuity editing which suggests that the relationship they are singing about flows and they don't have troubles within it; therefore the continuity editing reflects the song title "Love Is Easy."
Demi Lovato's - Skyscraper holds the conventions of Theorist, Sven Carlsson. Carlsson's theory (1999) said when a music video mostly shows an artist singing or dancing it is a performance clip. In Skyscraper Lovato sings to the camera of her heart break and the strength she has gained from overcoming her previous relationship. The use of low pan angles makes Lovato look tall creating the imagery of a Skyscraper; it also has connotations of being strong and powerful and could represent her moving on from her previous relationship or a previous trouble. The song could possibly infer Lovato's suffering with an eating disorder and that she is trying to move on and rise above her troubles. Lovato wears a white ankle length loose dress, with crucifix earrings, she also has the cross tattooed onto her hands showing that the video could have religious connotations which can relate to the landscape and the black/red cloth that in some parts of the video she is tangled in which could suggest the devil. In my opinion the mise en scene and theme of religion relates to "The Temptation of Christ" a parable in the Bible; where after fasting for 40 days/night the devil appears to Jesus in the Judaean desert where he attempts to tempt Jesus. However this could have be developed in the case of Lovato's song to her ex-boyfriend being the devil and she will not be tempted to come to him and therefore rise above him "like a Skyscraper". "Skyscraper" has connotations of power and strength, because of this it's an appropriate simile as it represents Demi overcoming her past love/relationship. The text could appeal to the audience which would generally be females aged 14-20 who are going through a break up this is due to the narrative of the piece as well as the ideological beliefs that people will come too from hearing the lyrics "Do you have to, make me feel like there is nothing left of me? as this could represent the argument that led to the break up that people particularly the audience can relate too. I believe the audience is the younger generation because they seem to look for more meaning in songs than the older generation and it always seem that every song "relates to something that is happening in their life." The mid shot of Lovato stood behind a white square frame on a pole where the glass has been smashed could represent the media and how she is been portrayed with the news/tabloids. The glass is broken, so this could represent her rebelling against what the media is saying about her and showing her fans that the media will not bring her down and she will rise above them "Like a skyscraper." The mise en scene of the heart in glass holds connotations of being fragile which could be due the break up however the mise en scene also links with the lyrics "Go on and try and tear me down, like I made of glass, Like I'm made of paper... I will be rising from the ground, like a skyscraper." This could infer that Lovato no longer cares for her previous lover, and that no matter how hard he tries to hurt her and make her feel bad, he can do it because she isn't going to listen to him and she's just going to carry on rising above him and bettering herself. Moreover the juxtaposed cut of the close up which sees Lovato move her hand towards her heart followed by the close up of the heart in glass adds to the representation of a heart of glass. Universally we believe that after a break up a person can be fragile and this is what I believe the cut/close up represents. Overall the montage edits have a mixture of fast and slow paces which sometimes reflects the pace of the song for example when Lovato gets passionate over what she's singing about/stronger towards the end the end of the song the cuts are mainly fast. In conclusion I think Lovato's video of "Skyscraper" could have many connotations it could represent heart break, overcoming her illness or how the media (E.g. newspapers, tabloids, magazines) tries to control her life.
The target Audience for the Pop Rock genre is generally 13-21 year old this is because they are typically able to relate to the songs and it's one of the most mainstream styles of music therefore it's promoted through the Media with the artists appearing in tabloids, Social Media and on TV which is most popular amongst the younger generation of teens and young adults. I also believe my main gender audience to be Female as P!nk and her music is quite iconic within society and many females look to her as an idol due to her meaningful lyrics and wild/strong feminist nature. To many females they want to be her because she confident enough to wear revealing clothes but is not afraid to sing about her personal life/love life to a million people. However my video also may appeal to males due to the use of "The Male Gaze." as well as male's who may also be able to relate to the song.
1894 - Edward B.Marks and Joe Stern hired George Thomas an Electrition to put together a set of images to artists songs, to help promote them. This became known as the illustrated song. 1926 - The arrival of talkies saw the development of many short musical films. Vitaphone shorts (Warner bros. production) featured many bands, vocalists and dancers. Animation artist Max Fleischer introduced a series of sing-along short cartoons called Screen Songs, which invited audiences to sing along to popular songs by "following the bouncing ball".
Musicals where also contributors to the contemporary music video such as 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes', 'West Side Story' and 'Summer Holiday' as this allowed artists to sell the music and influence the future generation such as West Side Story dance fights do in MJ's 'Thriller' and 'Diamonds Are A Girls Bestfriend' on Madonna's 'Material Girl'. The Late 1950's saw the development of the Scopatine. A visual Jukebox in france which allowed French artists to produce short films to be viewed alongside there songs. 1961 - Canadian show Singalong Jubilee, began pre-recording the music audio, went on-location and taped various visuals with the musicians lip-synching, then edited the audio and video together.
1964 - Beatles 'A Hard Days Night' directed by Richard Lester was seen as a Mock Documentary with videos accompanying hit songs.
1965 - The Beatles start making promotional clips for songs as seen in the clip below
1966 - 1968 Saw The Monkees create a hit US Series following the same modal of performing songs. And Can be seen below the Pilot Episode
1966 - Also saw one of the first Music Videos as we know it by Bob Dylan "Subterranean home sick blues" filmed by D.A. Pennebaker; saw Dylan shuffling cards in a city back alley.
1970's - Top Of The Pop begins
1972-73 Bowie creates promotional clips for "Jean Genie" and other from "Hunky Dory"
1975 - Queen Creates Bohemian Rhapsody one of the videos to be edited on made on Video Tape
1981 - US launched MTV airing "Video Killed The Radio star"
1983 - Michael Jackson's 14 minute long "Thriller" was aired on MTV, an iconic moment for African American artist who rarely saw there music played.
1983 Onwards - Music videos have continued to become more and more popular; expanding across TV channels and the internet such as Youtube.
Music videos (Mainly pop) have gone from the artists performing dance routines and singing, fully clothed, as seen in Billie Piper's "Because We Want Too" - an example of Sven Carlsson's theory. To females dressed in barely anything which shows example of Laura Mulvey's theory of "The Male Gaze" where females can be viewed as objects as seen in "Pour It Up" - Rihanna.
The song I have chosen is Mean - P!NK from her fifth studio album "Funhouse"
I chose this because the song inspired with me ideas for my music video and it did not have an official music video already created so there was not the fear of plagiarizing an original copy.
P!nk's music falls under the genre of pop and pop rock which is a mainstream genre in the music industry and has a huge market in music videos. She is known for being the artist who changed the scope of pop music and breaking the boundaries in the industry. Her music videos are always "out of the box" (as seen below) which gives me inspiration to the push boundaries with mine however on a low budget.
Try is a performance based music video where P!NK performs a contemporary dance alongside broadway dancer Colt Prattes. The video is effective because it shows the passion and hardship within a relationship through the use of performance which reflects Sven Carlsson's theory(1999).
P!NK is not afraid to laugh at society and to highlight problems within our generation which can be seen through the music video of "Stupid Girls" which highlights the obsession of "Being Skinny" and having "The look" however Pink is controversial by laughing at "Fake" people and making out it's not all that it is. The music video is effective because P!NK is an influential artist and therefore young females will listen to her and realise being "Popular" and a "Celebrity " is not all that it's looked up to be. The video uses Tessa Perkins theory of Stereotype which can be seen through the 'Paris Hilton' type characters.
