Textual Analysis 3 - "Happy" by Pharrell Williams

The following presentation is a textual analysis on the music video for the song "Happy" by Pharrell Williams as we thought it was best to analyse this music video due to it having simple editing techniques and being simple overall but had a huge impact on others and the audience.

 

 

Music Video Practice - "Happy"

Above is the practice music video we made using a snippet from the song "Happy" by Pharrell to help us get to terms with quick basic editing techniques as well as how to match up lip syncing with when the lyrics are present in the song.

Story Boarding - "Californication"

During one of our classes, we drew up the storyboard for "Californication" by Red Hot Chili Peppers to understand how detail it needed to be as well as understanding how we should draw our storyboards for when we get round to making our own music videos. Below is my version of the storyboard we were told to draw up;

Significant Moments in Music Videos

The above timeline shows music videos through time and how music videos, as well as music, has progressed through time and the developments that have been made.

Textual Analysis 2 - Recommended Music Videos

 

In the first music video, "I write sins no tragedies" by Panic! At the Disco, the mise-en-scene is based about a wedding using formal attires and the such that is usually what is seen worn at events like weddings, though when the family for the groom's side enters, they're very out of place with their clothing. They wear circus type clothing that's very out of place at an important event and makes them stand out, causing a contradiction of what should be worn to such events.

There's also a part at the beginning where the music video follows Goodwin's conventions, it being a relationship between lyrics and visuals as during this bit the lyrics mention "in exchanging of words" the duo afterwards say "I love you" to one another. It's also quite fast paced and has a few flashes to white, especially when it comes to the part when the Groom became the leader of the group in the end.
During one point, there's a low angled short where the camera is looking up at the guy who's blowing the glitter to all those on the bride's side, showing some kind of dominance over them as they suddenly start dancing, this could indicate them as being easily manipulated by others and their intentions.

Royal Blood's video "Out of the Black" parodies X-Files with the opening cartoon, as well as uses animation for most of the music video, especially for the complicated parts of it. This is the second music video I looked at as this had a quick pace which was done successfully through the use of editing of quick shots use multiple times. Tracking shots as well were used during scenes when following the movement of the creature in the rabbit costume escaping the gas station with it's stash.

There's also a part where the lyrics match with the visuals once more as in this video, the lyrics say "don't breathe" and at this point, the rabbit suit strangle another male as this matches the lyrics in a way.

There's a low angled shot that's looking up at the customer whom the guy who works at the gas station is serving, as though showing that the customer has higher priority over the person who works there at the station.

There's also some fade to whites, like the other video, which is used when it comes to points where the video changes to animations/cartoons, a change in style for the music video and shows a lot more action compared to what happens when it's not animated.



The third music video was "All the Small Things" by Blink 182 which is a parody of multiple artists and what the usual thing is done in music videos, the stereotype.

They parody other older music videos through the use of close ups that seem very familiar as well as parodying the stereotype of genre characteristics where this is a boy band and they followed dance routines that is noticed throughout the music video. Different camera shots are used as well, them being lots of close ups of the artists, something that's often done in music videos but then they end up zooming out to show the full picture where, as example, it looks like the male is showering but it turns out that he has a hose over the top of him, running only by accident, making a joke of what people usually do in music videos during that time, the past, and times to come as well.

There's a lot of quick short cuts that are hard to keep up with throughout the music video as it switches to the band in different locations multiple times, too many for the viewer to keep up with at points and can demonstrate the randomness of the video itself.

The lyrics in this music video don't match up at all to what is occurring in the music video as there's many random scenes but nothing that truthfully matches completely to what is happening at the time. The main bit that actually shows some resemblance to the lyrics is when he says "carry me home" and makes the motion of how a mother carries a child away.

In the fourth music video by Lana Del Rey called "Video Games"  there were many intertextual references as it was made using old footage from home movies made from the artists past an can be seen as something to be looking back on. There's also a lot of notion of looking in this video as the artist looks directly at the camera each time she's singing as well as various scenes in the home footage where people are looking to the camera, giving it an authentic effect.

There's non-continuity present in editing but this is due to it being random points in home footage where the clips have been taken from so it would be obvious that there wouldn't be a lot of continuity with the videos.

There's also plenty of establishing shots which are noticed due to the amount of street images shown which set the scene, showing where she's grown u and the such as it's literally taking a trip down memory lane for the artist. There is one bit in the song where the lyrics match the visuals as there was a scene where there was a couple lying on the ground next to one another and she says "it's all for you".

Theory - Goodwin's Conventions

Andrew Goodwin presented 6 features and characteristics that he believed could be found in music videos as told in his book "Dancing in the Distraction Factory" (1992). Here are the following which I will be using to analyse music videos;

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
   This includes things such as metal videos having expectations of seeing a stage performance and for girl or boy bands you'd expect to see a dance routine of some kind.
2. There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.
   This means that the lyrics were represented with the images shown in the video either being illustrative, contradicting or amplifying the effect that the lyrics have.
3. There is a relationship between music and the visuals.
   This is different compared to the one above as this means the tone and atmosphere set by the music and how the images in the video either contradicts it, illustrates the mood or amplifies it.
4. The demands of the record label will include close ups of the artists (lots of them) and the artist may also develop some sort of motifs which will recur across their work and be their "visual style" as well as something that their videos will be mostly known for.
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking, this is where the artist will look directly at the camera or it will break the fourth wall in some way, other examples would be screens within screens, mirrors, stages and others. There is also the pattern of there being particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There are often intertextual references to popular films, tv programmes, other music videos and even popular cultures and the like.

Textual Analysis - David Bowie: Life on Mars?

The music video for "Life on Mars?" by David Bowie was released on the same day the song itself was released which was during the year 1973. This music video consists of just the artist in a white room alone with no other people there, making him seem lonesome and going with the lyrics of the song as it states, "But her friend is nowhere to be seen" before showing Bowie on his own. This leaves an impact on the audience and shows how no other people are in the room or the people who played the instruments, representing himself as the female he is talking about. This follows a convention of Goodwin's where he said that there's a "relationship between lyrics and visuals".

There are many close ups of the artist's facial expressions throughout the music video as it focuses on the eyes of the artist and shows the difference in the pupil sizes as well as focusing on the face and the shoulders up. This is what is focused on for the most part of the music video as he though showing him in different ways could show different sides to him, especially when his full body is rarely shown on the video.

The cuts between each of the different angles are usually quite smooth but there's some quick paced and sharp cuts especially at the time when the notes of the song turn quite strong in a way near the start after the first verse. It suddenly changes to a shot of his face but mostly his eyes quite quickly as though the tone of the music video has changed completely.

There is a point in the music video where the video matches with the music at the end as the male is seen making actions as though he is playing the piano whilst the music includes snippets of sound where the piano is being played, this follows, once more, the conventions of Goodwin where there is a "relationship between music and visuals" as it is him trying to mimic the playing of a piano and pretending that there is one before him. This is different to what he did throughout the music video as during the music video, he would only stand there, folding his arms or even kicking the air a little, that's all that's seen throughout the music video of him so to see him act in such a manner shows the male in a different way, Almost as though in a different light.

This music video as focuses on the Goodwin convention of "notion of looking" where it's literally him and the camera and he's mostly looking straight at it, as though talking to the audience the lyrics that many find to be "surreal" and gives them quite "vivid imagery". This also creates a relationship between the artist and the viewer of the music video through the use of continuous eye contact.

Welcome to the Blog

Hello there and welcome to the blog, this blog will be recording what I do throughout the course this year - this including the production of a music video and creation of such which would include the planning, production, evaluation and research that will help to make this product.

I believe I'm relevantly proficient in my handling of equipment, editing techniques and sound manipulation due to my previous AS-level coursework in making a thriller opening which in turn, gave me ideas as to how to handle my time and what I should avoid doing or try to do for this course.

However, I'm quite inexperienced in the making of music videos or anything about them so this course will be quite new to me in some sense. Although, I'm interested in them and how they are made and believe I can bring originality to such as well as some sort of creativity to the project.

I'm really interested in the task given to us and I'm looking forward to the experience.