I believe that most music videos do allow for meaning to be fixed. The reason I think this is because if you listen to a song without the video following it, people may interpret the meaning of the songs lyrics differently to how other people may interpret it. However, if everyone listens to the song along with the music video then everyone will be able to realise the true meaning behind the song. In the rare case that people still get different interpretations of the song even with the music video, the narrative may be disjunctive so therefore the true meaning may not be clear.
2) How far is a brand responsible for their 'brand'/their artistic identity?
I think that a brand is half responsible for the way they portray their artists as they represent them in ways which will appeal to a certain audience. A clear example of this is Lady Gaga. Before she joined her record company, she was an innocent, gentle and natural looking female, however, once her record company made her famous and shaped her image, she transformed into a wild, extravagant and over the top person.
However, more independent artists can shape their own image in the way they want to be portrayed, an example being Rihanna, whos image has not changed dramatically since becoming famous. She still has a innocent but attractive look about her.
3) What effect does knowing visual images are 'polysemic' have?
The word polysemic is defined as something that can express two or more meanings. The fact that we know visual images are polysemic means that people can make their own interpretations of these images or can in fact confuse the audience, so it makes them think hard about the true meaning of the images. The effect polysemic images have may be that audiences watch the video more than once as they get a different meaning each time. The video may also be spoken between people as different audiences are getting their own interpretations of the video, which helps to sell the artist and the image they are portraying.
4) What role does Album Art have in contributing to the star's identity?
Apart from live performance, media coverage, the songs and music videos, the record covers play a very important role in selling the albums as well as the image of the star that they are presenting. Advertisement of the album would be shown on TV adverts, magasines, in store and billboards, for example, so will have a major impact and influence on contributing to the star's identity. Therefore, an attention seeking, individualistic and memorable album cover is essential to draw peoples attention to the stars album. If people remember the front cover of an album, it is more likely to be spoken about, thus spreading the name of the artist around. One of my most memorable album covers is one by Pink Floyd called 'Wish You Were Here':
I find this an extremely clever album art because it is very memorable but bizzare. The name of the album 'Wish You Were Here' also contradicts the picture on the front of the album, as a male is shaking another males hand who is on fire.
5) How far does Album Art provide a frame of reference for interpretation?
I personally believe that Album Art provides a full frame of reference for interpretation as not all album covers represent what the album will be about, leaving it to the audience to interpret what the album will be about. For example, 'Build a rocket boys' by Elbow, the name of the album has nothing to do with the front cover of the album.
Music Videos are not fictional in the sense that real world stars or bands, and the outcomes for them are inextricably linked. Therefore, if a star plays one role, it will have a direct relation or effect on their overall persona.
Following my research into music videos, it has been made clear to me that they work around three codes; music, lyrics and iconography (visuals). The way to understand how music videos work is to look at the relationship between these codes. The relationship between them can either be amplified, contradicting (disjunctive) or illustrative. These three are designed to provide pleasure towards to audience in order to keep their eyes fixed on the screen and to excite them, resulting in them watching the video again or perhaps telling another person about this video, advertising the artist to others.
An example of where the relationship between the music and the visuals is amplified is a video by Nero called 'Crush on You':
In this video, the narrative is about 4 girls all having a crush on the same boy. The emotions that the boy is feeling from all these girls having a 'crush' on him is exaggerated and is shown by using a red tint over the moving images, illustrating anger or fear. It also flashes and has lightning effects over the girls with emphasises the power the all the girls have over the male character. These visual amplifies the music of this video.
An example of a music video that has a contradicting relationship between the lyrics and the visuals is one by Basshunter called 'Now You're Gone':
This music video is telling the story of a couple who have just broken up, and the lyrics are sung by a man regretting the break up as he misses the female now shes out of his life. However, the visuals tell a different story. The audience are able to see the female with her friends having a good time dancing in a club, and jump cuts are used to show the man having a laugh with his mates in the same club. Despite the lyrics being slightly depressing and full of regret, it shows both male and female having a good time. At the end of the video the audience get to see the couple kissing on the dancefloor in the club, therefore it is clear that the lyrics completely contradict the visuals.
An example of a music video that has an illurative relationship between the lyrics and visuals is 'Stacy's Mom' by Fountains of Wayne:
In this music video, the visuals go along with the literal meaning of the lyrics. For example, when the lyrics say, 'we can hang around by the pool', there are a male and a female character messing around by a pool. Another example of this is when the lyrics say, 'do you remember when I mowed your lawn?' and as this is sung, a male is mowing someones lawn. In this case, the fact that the visuals are illustrating the lyrics help the audience to understand the story which may be confusing if the visuals were not illustrative. Also, there are sexual parts to the video, which follows Goodwin's theory of voyeurism in music videos, which pleases the audiences and therefore persuades them to watch on.
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label, situated in London. Rough Trade was first established in 1978 by Geoff Travis when he opened up a record store in London. Steve Montgomery who was initially a customer of the shop was offered a job soon after it opened and became its co-manager. Geoff Travis and Steve Montgomery were joined by a further employee, Richard Scott, in June 1977.
In 1978, the shop began organising a record distribution network, named ‘The Cartel’, in partnership with other independent record stores in the UK. This network enabled small record labels such as Factory Records and 2 Tone Records to sell their releases nationally.
In 1979, Rough Trade's first album, Inflammable Material by Stiff Little Fingers, reached number 14 in the UK charts and became the first independently released album to sell over 100,000 copies in the UK.
In 1982, the shop parted company with Rough Trade's music-making and distribution activities, after a decision was made to close the shop and staff asked to take it over.
In 1991, the label went bankrupt which consequently ruined many small record labels to which money was owed. Rough Trade was re-launched in 2000. In 2002, BMG bought out this business and in July 2007, Sanctuary Records then sold Rough Trade to the Beggars Group, making Rough Trade independent once again. Since its re-birth, Rough Trade has released albums by artists such as The Strokes, The Libertines, Babyshambles and Belle & Sebastian.
It was one of our tasks in lesson time to work in pairs, analysing and decontructing a music video of our choice which we then had to present in front of our fellow peers. My partner and I chose to analyse 'Your Love Is My Drug' by Kesha, and these are our bullet points we came up with:
- Starts with close-up camera shots and tracking shots to make the audience aware of the setting as well as the artist and other characters.
- Point of view shots from the artist are frequently used, making the audience feel as if they are a part of the narrative in the music video.
- Animals are regularly used in the camera frame to emphasise the fact that shes in the wild and perhaps a part of the wild. Also hints that she is in the middle of no where and that the artist is away from normality.
- Kesha walks and sings to the beat and rhythm of the song, which is common in music videos.
- When the artist wears the mask, it suggests that she feels like a part of the environment surrounding her, illustrating that she has a love for the wild and animals and doesn't mind being arounf them.
- The artist frequently interacts with the audience by pointing to the camera, which draws the audience in and again makes them feel more connected to the artist. This helps to sell the artist to the audience, and the image that she is portraying.
- When the artist sings, 'Your love is my drug', a 'bug eye' effect is used over the camera shot which related to the lyrics of the song about being on drugs and the hallucinating effect it may have. It could also relate again to the environment and the fact she is surrounded by wild animals.
- There are a lot of jump cuts, but used in the same setting from different view points. These jump cuts are generic conventions of music videos.
- The outfits and costumes they wear as well as the jewellery represents their 'hippy' style of life. This also connects to the lyrics of the song as it talks about drugs illustrating the hippy way of life that is known as 'live, laugh, love'. The setting also links to this theme about 'squatting' and travelling around, not having a fixed home to live in.
- The bright colours of the cartoons again relate to being on drugs and the bright colours people can sometimes hallucinate as well as the hippy theme.
- When the characters themeselves turn into cartoons it shows a sense of being invinsible and that by having each others love, they can fight against the world. This effect also draws the audience in more as the mood of the video is constantly changing and give the audience something different to watch.
- A star transition is used to swap from the cartoons back to reality. The use of the star again has a hippy feel to it and make the video more fun to watch from the audiences perspective.
- The use of the sun set emphasises the characters love as it is romantic and shows the audience the connection between both characters. Close up shots are used of both characters being close together, which can be seen as voyeuristic as the audience want to carrying on looking at both characters as it can be pleasing for the audience.
- The neon paint on the woman at the end of the music video gives the effect that they are in a tribe, reflecting on the setting and that they are in the wild. It also connects to the idea of bright colours and the hippy theme.
After researching music videos and studying in lessons, it has become evident that music videos fall into three main catagories; Performance based, Narrative based and Concept based. Below are music videos that relate to each one of the three.
Performance based - Turn Me On (Kevin Lyttle)
Here is an example of a performance based music video. It is evident that the producer is selling the artist through their performance rather anything else. The audience are kept entertained through the dirty dancing and the sexual content of the video, an example being the females dancing in revealing clothes. In addition, the audience rarely get to see the actual artist singing or the other band members.
Narrative based - Last Friday Night (Katy Perry)
This is an example of a narrative based music video. The audience are able to notice this just by the establishing shot as it is an extreme long shot, not common in music videos. As well as this, the video has titles presented over the establishing shot as if it was a film you would see in the cinema. The actual soundtrack also doesnt come in straight away and you see the artist (Katy Perry) acting out a scence at the beginning, that relates to the narrative of the music video. When the soundtrack comes in, the audience get to see snipits of the artist singing, however the narrative continues throughout. The audience are kept entertained as they want to know what happens to the artist in the end, making this video a very successful one.
Concept based - Innocence (NERO)
This music video is an example of a concept based video, established around the idea of presenting the narrative of the video as a cartoon. These types of videos tend to be fairly unusual as it is based around one idea. Despite this, it also fits into the catagory of a narrative based music video. This is when I soon came to realise that it is very rare that music videos are one set type, but in fact frequently incorporate a mixture of these elements, for example the video above, which is both concept and narrative based.
Goodwin’s theory of Voyeurism are themes commonly used in music videos that help to sell the artists image by expressing a sense of sexuality to the audience. Voyeurism can also be used to make a statement and to also enhance the meaning behind the lyrics. An example of a music video that uses the sex appeal to sell the artist is ‘No Bullshit’ by Chris Brown, where sexual acts are carried out in front of the audience thus sexually pleasing the male audience.
Kelly Rowland - Lay it on me
An example of a music video that uses intertextuality to make a statement is, ‘Lay It on Me’ by Kelly Rowland, where again the artists body is flaunted to make the point that she is going to make love to the men who are in the video.
Dev - In the Dark
An example of where voyeurism is used to enhance the meaning behind the lyrics is, ‘In the Dark’ by DEV where the female artists’ naked body is being caressed by other males in the video as the lyrics say, ‘Think about it when you touch me there’ emphasising the fact that she is getting felt up by the males in the video and again makes the audience want to carry on watching.
Intertextuality can include many techniques; the most common use of it is through direct or indirect address. Directly addressing the audience is where the artist or band members purposely look into the camera to sing to the audience, which helps them to feel engrossed and a part of the narrative, and indirectly addressing the audience is where the artist or band members do not look into the camera in order to create a feeling of distance and voyeurism. This can be presented through watching something happen from someone else’s point of view, where the audience can watch a story unfold between two characters in the video, without the audience feel as if they are involved within the narrative, instead want to watch on to see how the story unravels. An example of a music video that uses this technique is, ‘What’s My Name’ by Rihanna, where the audience are drawn in by Rihanna’s relationship with Drake and feel the need to watch on the find out what happens to the two characters in the end.
Violet Hill - Still image of music video
Voyeurism and intertextuality can also be encouraged by the use of props in music videos. The use of screens-within-screens is a technique where for example, mirrors, television screens, cameras, telescopes and magnifying glasses are used within the narrative of the music video to present the artist to the audience and also makes the video appear a lot more intriguing so the audience want to watch on. An example of a music video that uses this technique is, ‘Violet Hill’ by Coldplay, where a magnifying glass is used to zoom up on the facial features of the artist, helping to sell the artists image and makes the video appear a lot more fascinating.
Sanaa Hamri, born in 1975 in Tangier, Morocco, is a Moroccan-American music video and film director. She is one of the most well-known female film and music video directors.
In 1992, at age 17, Sanaa emigrated from her native Morocco to study theatre at SarahLawrenceCollege in Bronxville, New York. Shortly after receiving her degree, she was trained under the leadership of the recognised music video cinematographer Malik Sayeed. Under Malik’s guidance, Sanaa was given the video-editing job for the reggae and hip-hop fusion group ‘Born Jamericans’ that started her subsequent career as an editor.
After two years she changed from being an editor to a director, building a portfolio of artists including Mariah Carey, Missy Elliot and Christina Aguilera. Her big break was a low-budget, Bronx rap video for ‘LaFace’ recording artists ‘1 Life 2 Live’ for their song Blind Love, catching the attention of Mariah Carey. This resulted in directing Mariah Carey's ‘Thank God I Found You’ remix as well as her video for ‘Don't Stop’. These projects were soon followed by videos for such artists as Destiny's Child, Kelly Rowland, Jay Z and even more present, Niki Minaj.
Along with directing music videos, Sanaa also directs television programmes and films including episodes of Desperate Housewives, Men in Trees and the well known film ‘Just Wright’ that came out in 2010.
Below is an example of one of her music videos that she has directed – Super Bass by Niki Minaj:
Below are examples of films and television programs that she has directed:
It was our task in pairs to create a story board for a music video following the well known 'Little Red Riding Hood' fairytale. We were given 20-30 Post It notes to create a disjointed storyboard and to include each camera shot and movement on. The aim was to make it suitable for a music video, therefore we had to think carefully about the camera shots to use, for example, frequently using close up shots, reducing the amount of long shots in the sequence and using jump cuts. To make our storyboard appear more like a music video, we decided to include a dance routine which is a generic convention of a music video as well as making sure that a performance of the 'star' and the instruments were presented to the audience. Below is the storyboard we created:
After completing our story board, it was our task to remove half of the Post It note images off so we were left with a different and fragmented story. This task helped us to understand that even though half the images were taken off, we were still able to create an effective storyboard for our music video that made sense. Disjointed narratives are commonly used in music videos so this expanded our knowledge helping us to understand that we don’t always need a complete story for narratives to make sense in music videos.
After we had taken about half of the Post It notes away, we were left with a fragmented narrative. Despite this being the case, a story board for a music video was still able to make sense and take place. We then had to remove the rest until there were only 3 camera shots left.
Once this was carried out, it was our task to think carefully about what camera shots and movements we would need for the story to make sense inbetween each Post It notes. By doing this task, it helped me to understand that when it comes to the actual music video task, a lot more camera transitions and shots are needed, and that these shots need to be thought out very carefully and in detail to get from one shot to another.
Today we had a discussion in our lesson as to who we want to work in a group with in order to create our official music video. The group I am in includes Sophiya, Monica, Tyra and myself. We all decided that this was a good group and decision to make as we all worked well together for the Preliminary Task and were happy to work and coordinate with each other.
It was our task in pairs to create a 10 minute presentation on a pop star of our choice, showing how the person transformed into a pop star and how the star's image develops over time through their music videos. I worked with Tyra Cooper and we picked Lady Gaga to analyse as we thought that she has transformed her image a significant amount over the course of her singing career, and continues to do so.
Before and After Lady Gaga became famous...
These are 2 music videos sung by Lady Gaga, one at the beginning of her career before she became famous, and the other is one of her most up to date songs. There is a clear difference with the image that she portrays between both music videos. The first music video shows a sense of innocence and concealment, whereas Lady Gaga in the newer video appears to be more sexually presented and her image is completely transpormed, wearing revealing clothes, wacky makeup and a crazy hair style.
At the early stages of the band’s existence, Florence and the Machine’s music received a lot of attention across the music side of the media, especially from the BBC even before they became big and famous. Specifically, the BBC played a large part in their rise to success, by promoting Florence and the Machine as part of ‘BBC Introducing’, soon gaining mainstream success.
The band started off by playing at a handful of gigs in and around London and in August 2007, the band performed at the debut year of the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch Festival, performing on the MySpace Main Stage. In May 2008, they supported MGMT on tour in Europe. The fact that the BBC also helped to promote their work meant this led to them playing at music festivals in 2008, including Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds festival and Bestival. The band also played at concerts for Teenage Cancer Trust charity events at the Royal Albert Hall, which all in turn led to the release of the band’s debut album, ‘Lungs’, which was released on 6 June 2009, which held the number one position for 2 weeks in the UK Album Charts.
The band now currently own their own website where they blog and keep their audiences up to date with important dates, such as upcoming events and concerts. Their music is also available to buy online on sites such as iTunes, as well as 'Spotify', where certain account holders can hear their album's for free. CD's are also advertised on television adverts as well as being advertised on popular online sites such as Facebook where the audience can buy in store or even on sites such as 'Ebay'. Florence and the Machine are also releasing tour dates on their online website and through the BBC, which promotes their work and therefore puts their work out in the market for their target audiences.
In our preliminary group, we decided to use the song ‘So This Is Great Britain’, a debut album by the Holloways to create a music video for. The songs lyrical meanings have a sarcastic tone about Great Britain about how the economy is failing and how the uniqueness of Great Britain has been washed away. We therefore created a mind map of ideas about what to include in our video, and we decided that the best idea was to go round central London, filming famous and well-known landmarks that represent Great Britain. We thought that by filming the main performance sequences behind a wall full of graffiti gave off the message that peoples respect for this country has degraded, and it also relates to the rebellious rock theme of the song. We tried to connect the artist with the audience by using a lot of close up camera shots of the artist and made the artist look directly into the camera so the fans can identify more with the artist. I thought that this was effective so therefore plan to use it in our official music video. We also filmed sequences a drum player, playing along to the beat of the song, however decided not to use this in the video as it didn’t look professional or even realistic. I believe that overall we worked together in creating a successful music video, however, we learned many thing such as what is good to use and what isn’t so we can apply this to our official music video to make it as good as possible!
To what extent can you apply Goodwin’s theory of voyeurism to a music video? Use 3 music videos to illustrate your case.
Building upon Freud’s initiative, Goodwin’s theory of voyeurism refers to the idea of expressing a sense of sexuality in media texts, deliberately to catch the audience’s attention and to gain sexual pleasure for both genders. This idea is mainly aimed at males, where female artists will be sexually provocative to keep the audience’s eyes fixed on the screen. Goodwin argues that females will be objectified in this way by doing such things as revealing sexual facets of their body and by wearing revealing clothes. As well as this, camera angles such as low angle shots and close ups help to emphasise this. I believe that Goodwin’s theory is apparent in music videos, especially when screens-within-screens are used as this encourages the viewers to be drawn into the narrative of the media text.
An example of where Goodwin’s theory is evident is in the music video ‘Put Your Hands Up For Detroit’ by Fedde Le Grand. The establishing shot is an extreme long shot of a group of women all dressed in short white laboratory coats, walking around like robots. Already, a sense of sexuality is shown by their bare legs being flaunted, as well as low angle shots that help to reveal sexual aspects of their body. The fact that they’re dressed in uniform helps to keep the male audience focused on the screen as this is something that sexually pleases men. The idea of voyeurism becomes more complex when we see a topless male in the video. Even though this invites the female audience to respond, the use of the women surrounding him and dancing provocatively around him, in this case are used as a supplement to flatter the male stars’ ego. The sexual drive of the video rapidly increases when the female dancers rip off their laboratory coats and are left in their pink lace underwear. When the women start lap dancing on the male, extreme close up camera shots are used at this point so the male audiences can be even more exposed and close up to the women’s bodies.
Another clear example of where Goodwin’s theory of voyeurism is used in music videos in one called ‘Satisfaction’ by Benny Benassi. The establishing shot is an extreme close up of a hammer and a nail, but soon the audiences attention is focused when a long shot reveals a half naked female bending over in a sexual manner, gazing into the camera, hammering a nail. Jump cuts are used a lot in this video, especially when exposing body parts. This editing is carried out so the audiences’ attention is kept on the sexual aspects of the video and to keep them looking for what is expected next. A close up shot is used to show sweat on the women’s leg, emphasising the fact that she’s having a work out, as well as making links to sex. Close up camera shots of the woman’s lips are also frequently used when they are singing the lyrics. This makes the males audience feel closer to the women and makes them feel more drawn into the narrative of the video. When a close up shot reveals one of the women biting her lips, it suggests that she has a hunger for sex which attracts the male audience to the video and keeps them entertained throughout.
The final video that I believe supports Goodwin’s theory of voyeurism is one called ‘Lollipop’ by Alexandra Stan. The first shot is a close up of the artist biting into a lollipop, sexually closing her eyes. This instantly draws the audiences’ attention to her as she appears to be getting pleasure out of the lollipop. The lyrics also link in with this as she sings about licking a lollipop that slyly associates with sexual activities. A long shot soon reveals that the artist is in just her underwear which increases the sexual drive of the male audience to make them want to carry on watching. Jump cuts are used a lot within this video, going from close-up shots to long shots. The close-up shots are of the 2 women’s mouths where they are biting their lips, again suggesting to the audience that they are hungry for sex, and the long shots are of their half naked bodies. A close up camera shot of a whip is also used in this video which may excite the male audience and will make them want to watch on to see what the women do with the whip. The pouting glances the artists make to the audience also make them feel more like a part of the narrative in this music video.
The music video I will be analysing is called ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson. It was made in 1982 in the music genre of RnB, pop and post-disco music soon after the success of the album ‘Off the Wall’.
At the beginning of the music video a note is left from Michael Jackson himself stating, ‘Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult’. From this statement the audience are instantly aware that this music video will be in the style of a film or narrative. This becomes more apparent when the song title, ‘Thriller’, appears on the screen giving the audience a cinematic feel to the video. This is illustrated as though it is blood trickling down the screen in a red, throbbing font, giving connotations that it is someone’s heart that is beating. This is upon a black background, making the audience fear the unknown as well as the dark. The title ‘Thriller’ also suggests that the music video will be in the form of a thriller movie. The soundtrack behind this is of a man heavily breathing, suggesting to the audience that this may be a villain or someone in trouble. This style of presenting the music video goes against the generic conventions of pop videos, as an audience would normally expect to see a performance of the band members and instruments or a dance routine. However, already the audience are left in anticipation for what is to follow and therefore makes the audience want to watch on.
The establishing shot of the video is an extreme long shot so the audience are introduced to the setting. From the mise-en-scene we see a car driving though a dark, unlit forest suggesting that these ‘characters’ are driving into darkness and mystery. This is a typical scene you would see in a thriller movie, and therefore the audience are drawn into the narrative of the music video as humans generally have a fear of forests and the unknown. The soundtrack behind this relates to the scene as we can hear wild animals such as frogs and crickets. Soon, the audience are startled when the car breaks down in the middle of no where, creating an increase in tension to the narrative. A long shot then jump cuts to a close up camera shot of the characters in the car, revealing a male (Michael Jackson) and a female. A close up shot of Michael Jackson is used to present the stars image, reminding and selling the artist to the audience. The fact that they are also wearing 1980’s clothes, it relates to the time era the music video was made in thus selling the 1980’s clothes and style to the viewers.
When the female character says, ‘So, what are we going to do now?’ in a sexually provocative manner, this supports Goodwin’s theory of voyeurism in music videos. It becomes increasingly more apparent as a close up camera shot helps the audience get closer to the woman’s face and body and therefore is sexually pleasing for male viewers. The sentence also makes it more apparent that these two people are in some sort of relationship therefore the intertextuality encourages the audience to carrying on looking at the screen to see what the couple are going to do next. The sexual tension between both characters is made clearer when the camera tilts from their feet upwards revealing them both in the same camera frame. The connection between the two is emphasised by the use of shot-reverse-shots and snappy editing.
This music video is very much like a complete narrative which again goes against the generic conventions of narratives in a performance. This is because generally, narratives in songs are rarely complete and are often fragmented. However, Michael Jackson is encouraging the audience to carry on watching by having fairly long edits between each scene and creating a genuine narrative out of the songs lyrics.
When Michael Jackson transforms into a ware wolf, not only is it a shock to the audience, but it is also entertaining and in some ways comedic. This helps take away the seriousness of the beginning of the music video. The backing track is also daunting by using stringed instruments such as violins and cellos. The full moon is also iconic of ware wolfs and thriller movies again making the video humorous as well as relating back to the title of the song.
When the scene suddenly changes to Michael Jackson and the female watching that exact film in the cinema it confuses the audience as to whether the ware wolf scene was real in the narrative of the film or whether it was just the two of them watching it in the cinema, therefore feel the need to watch on to unravel the story. It also helps the audience stay focused on the music video as they are not seeing the same story throughout, instead keeps them watching on to unravel the confusion.
When the actual soundtrack comes in, the editing suddenly speeds up from slow cuts to jump cuts to fit in with the pace of the music. Tracking shots are used to follow the artists’ movements so the audience’s attention is constantly on the star and the image he is portraying. Again, they are drawn in further when Michael Jackson starts dancing along to the beat of the music, making it appear to be more like a music video as a dance routine is common in music videos.
In general, the music video amplifies and illustrates the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. The music video is illustrative in the way the lyrics of the song are acted out, but it is also amplified, as certain scenes appear over the top and comic, such as the scene where Michael Jackson transforms into a ware wolf, as well as the scenes of the zombies breaking out of the graves. One significant section of this music video is a 46 second continuous, close up, tracking shot following Michael Jackson as he dances to the beat of the music. This generally goes against the generic conventions of music videos which inspire the audience to keep their eyes on the screen as well as the music artist.
When Michael walks the female out of a busy urban area, to a run down rural place that leads to a grave yard, it hints to the audience that he is leading her into danger yet again. The frightening rural setting is emphasised when an owls hoot it used as part of the backing track, iconic of a thriller movie, scaring the audience as well as keeping them involved within the narrative of the music video. Vincent Price is famous for his voice over’s in thriller movies, so the use of his voice in Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ music video helps the audience to maintain the associate of the music video as a film.
When the dance routines become the main attraction of the video, the camera shots are cut and edited to the beat of the music and the movement of the dancers. Close up camera shots become frequent, selling the artist to the audience. The dancers all move in unison, suggesting to the viewers that all these zombies are part of Michael Jacksons ‘crew’, therefore leaving the audience worried for the safety of the female. The fact that tension is created throughout this music video constantly keeps the audience on the edge of their seat as well as keeping their eyes attached to the screen. In terms of this video, performance and narrative are the main concepts that keep the audience engaged throughout. To end the music video, as well as the ‘film’, credits are presented to conclude the narrative.
Hey everyone and welcome to my A2 Media coursework blog. We have all been set the tast to create a music video to go along with a song of our choice. The following blogs will show my personal research into music videos, our planning stages and our final project! Our first task in todays lesson was to create our own personal blogs, so now we're all set up, it's time for the hard work to begin!
