3. Vernallis’s Theory
Vernallis believes that the usual rules of ‘continuity’ editing are broken in
order to keep a music video entertaining and interesting. Continuity editing
is something that is usually found in TV and film.
Edits that are used are very obvious to make it clear to the viewers.
Jumps cuts are often used in music videos
Base tracks are used to give the video a structure
Camera moves in time with the music
This video of Right There by Ariana Grande proves this theory as it follows the
conventions stated above.
http://youtu.be/fhcpubAVdmc
4. The main ideas used from this…
We decided to follow Vernallis’s theory as it would help us create a structure
for the song.
Main ideas we took from this are:
- A lot of edits
- Use of base tracks
- Jump cuts
We were influenced by Our Song by Taylor Swift as it had many base tracks and
a lot of jump cuts and other edits which make it clear to the viewers that it is a
music video. Also it is a song within the same genre of the song that we are
making a video for so we felt that this would be great to use for inspiration.
http://youtu.be/Jb2stN7kH28
5. Goodwin’s Theory
Andrew Goodwin believes that pop videos are built around the song and
don’t follow a traditional narrative as novels or films
Pop videos use the singer as both the narrator and a character
Singer often looks into the camera to involve viewers at home
Rely on repetition
Has closure; climax created which then fades into an end
There are three types of relations between song and video; illustration,
disjuncture and amplification
An example of Goodwin’s theory being used in a music video is Lost Without U
by Robin Thicke - http://youtu.be/0DdCoNbbRvQ
You can see the use of repetition in the guitar base tracks and a few base
tracks within the verses as well as the singer looking into the camera.
6. How we used this theory…
We followed this theory as our music video showcases Eva (the artist) looking
into the camera numerous times to engage the audience.
We also used a lot of repetition as we had a lot of base tracks that we cut
between throughout the video.
However, we also challenged this theory as we didn’t have a narrative for the
video. We decided on portraying our video through disjuncture as we felt that
as our artist is new and want to focus on selling her talent. We wanted to do
this by focusing solely on her and her performance of the song. Therefore we
felt a narrative wasn’t really necessary.
7. Mulvey’s Theory of Representation
Mulvey believes that when a female is performing in music videos, it is
usually seen in the point of view of a male. This view is seen as being ideal
across all videos. This representation is often seen in many Hip Hop and R&B
videos however it is not only subjected to those genres.
In order to create this ‘ideal’ vision of a woman, a lot of thought is put into
what she wears and her make up and her posture in the video.
Quite often you would see women in very provocative clothing and acting in
a sexual way towards men to get their attention or you would see close ups
of certain aspects of their body for men to focus on.
A video that proves Mulvey’s theory is Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke Featuring
T.I. & Pharrell . This is because you can see girls parading around in skimpy
clothing being as seen as objects of pleasure for the men.
http://youtu.be/yyDUC1LUXSU
8. How we used Mulvey’s Theory
We decided to follow Mulvey’s Theory so we could attract our wider audience (men).
We decided to dismember aspects of Eva’s body which would this apply the ‘male
gaze’ on to it.
Taylor Swifts video ‘Tim McGraw’ influenced us on our decision to do this as you can
see Taylor laying in the grass as the camera pans up and down her body. We thought
this was a great execution of the male gaze and it was done in a very classy and
subtle way so we thought we would use this idea in our video.
http://youtu.be/GkD20ajVxnY
9. Other Videos That Influenced Us
Nicole Scherzinger – Try With Me - http://youtu.be/R7sYiTyBjTY
Rihanna – Only Girl In The World - http://youtu.be/pa14VNsdSYM
Florence and the Machines – Rabbit Heart - http://youtu.be/GF6kBNLTvaU
These songs used their location and scenery in a very effective way. I liked the way the
flowers were incorporated into the videos because it looks very elegant and
sophisticated. Although in these videos flowers are used (something we were initially
going to do) we will be trying to create the same effect using leaves to fit in with our
autumnal theme. I liked the angles used in Nicole’s video as they stood out to me and
looked very interesting. These shots influenced some of the shots used in our music
video too. In Rihanna’s video you can see flower petals floating around and we thought
it would be a good idea to do this with leaves so it can tie in with our theme. In the
Florence and the Machine video I liked the filter used in the video. We used a filter like
this on our music video to bring out the greens even more and give a little yellowish tint
to make it seem a little vintage-ish.
Screenshots from the videos on next slides
14. The conventions of Digipaks and
Advertisements
Digipak
Image of the artist(s)
Album name smaller than the artist
name
Track list
Copyright information
Barcode & record label logo
Catalogue number on the spine
( + artist and album name and record
label logo)
Making the inside and outside connect
CD Housing
Synergetic aspects from music video
Artist looking at the camera
Advertisement
Image of the album cover
Social media links
Name of artist and album
Download links
Release date
Record label logo
Review from a magazine
Making it connect to the advert
Barcode
15. How I followed these conventions
I followed all if not most of the conventions mentioned
in the previous slide.
The genre specific conventions that I followed for my
ancillary products were that I stuck to the natural
themed setting or had an element of green in it. Also
another convention would be to have an instrument as
this is what is usually associated with an indie-pop artist.
Another thing with indie –pop artists is that they tend
to keep it quite simple.
16. Initially, I had planned on having a digipak with my artist
against a plain background on the front but I felt that it
suited the genre better to have a greener background.
For the instrument aspect of it we used a guitar
because it would both connect to the music video and
be conventional to the genre. Another way I connected
it to the music video was by using the same font for the
text that was in the music video in the ancillary
products.
17. Examples….
Here is an example of a digipak having an element of
green in it as well as the artist looking directly into the
camera. It is also quite simplistic in a sense as all you see
is the artist, the name of the artist and the album title
against a natural background. Also you see the same
colour palette being used in the print ad. This is what I
also did with my advert as I used the red font to make
the two items connect. However, this advert is very
basic as it doesn’t provide a lot of information about the
artist or album. This is something I challenged as I
wanted to have as much detail possible because she
was a brand new artist that many people wouldn’t have
heard of.
18. Here is an example of a digipak being simple
as well as effective. I also like the positioning
of the titles. This is something I applied to my
own digipak but I did it at the bottom.
However, the unconventional thing about this
album is that the artist isn’t looking into the
camera. The idea behind having the artist
looking into the camera is so the buyer would
feel as though the artist is looking directly at
them and therefore making you attracted to
it. I made sure to use an image of the artist
looking at the camera so this could happen.
Also, in the advert, the album cover is
anchored very well with the release date of
the album. Also it has all the things that you
would see in a conventional advert.
19. In this album cover you can see a lot of greens
and other earthy colours in the background.
Also I like the way they had a unique font on the
front of it as well as on the advert to make it
easier to connect with the artist. I had done this
with my artist as well so the audience can make
a direct visual link. I also like how the
positioning of the texts in this advert is placed
at the bottom. This is to make it look like he top
half is the cover of the album (which is does
look like).
One thing all of these adverts have in common is that it is done
in portrait style. I have decided to not follow this convention
and do it in landscape. This is so you can position the text even
better by using the rule of thirds. Doing this helps people find
the important information quicker because it would all be on
one side.
