1. “Music video should demonstrate genre characteristics”As our song choice is a Kings of Leon cover who is an indie/rock band, covered by a female pop singer Pixie Lott. Therefore we picked visual genre features such as darker colours to help refer back to the KOL video while using contrasting images such as floral clothing and bright props that create a ‘pop’ genre mise-en-scene. (INSERT ARTIST PROFILE PHOTOS)
2. “Should be a relationship between the lyrics and visuals”We chose to have a story line to our video which would amplify the song lyrics. Also by using a girl-meets-boy relationship story line it conveys a stereotypically pop/girly video. Using shots and angles such as ‘over-the –shoulder’ gives a personal vibe and invites the audience into the story.The lyrics “use someone like you” speak of needing someone who is caring and someone who is dependent. Our video successfully portrays this as it shows various shots of the young couple going on different dates and laughing together as the story of the lyrics is told. However the video finishes with a shot of the female alone in the same place the couple once had enjoyed a previous date. At this moment the lyrics narrate, “Always looking down” – at this point the female looks downwards towards her coffee cup; a memory she once shared with her ex.
3. “Is there a relationship between the music and visuals?”We edited certain shots for dramatic effect such as transitioning from black to a close up as the beat and lyrics begin just before the first chorus. (INSERT STILL) Another shot we also especially edited was the bridge to the song. The bridge is the part of the song about half way through when the melody of the music shifts and the lyrics read “I’m ready now, I’m ready now” the tempo speeds up and so to display this we used short (1-2 second) snippets from previous footage that wasn’t used anywhere else in the video. This visual bridge worked as a break up from the slow story telling of the other parts of the video. This part has been commented on by all members of our production group and peers in our class as “effective and slick”.
4. “The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work. Does anything like this feature in the A2 video?”When looking at the Pixie Lott and Kings of Leon video’s we noticed that there were many close-ups; especially in the Pixie Lott video. Obviously this helps establish a new artist and gets them recognisable to the public. (INSERT STILL)Due to this, we opened our video with a mid-shot and a close-up of me. This makes me recognisable throughout the entire video as the female character in the storyline as the audience has seen a close-up facial shot right from the start. Additionally the close-up of me using the mic, highlights my eyes as they open. We noted that Pixie Lott is famous for her fabulous legs – my eyes are noticeably big and serve as my main feature. This close-up shows off my eyes and are then featured in other facial close-ups and extreme close-ups of my eyes such as in the bridge; there is an extreme close-up of my eyes opening and looking up.
5. “Does the video reference to the notion of looking such as telescopes or screens within screens? Or is there any particular use of voyeuristic treatment of the female body?”After we looked at various Pixie Lott videos we noticed the use of mobile technology such as featuring shots of text messages on a mobile phone or emails from a computer monitor. Due to this we used the originality of the text from the smart phone and used an Iphone as a prop and had a CU of a text message reading “I miss you” which also features in the fast visuals of the bridge.Furthermore there are few shots in our production that highlight the female body. However, shots such as me walking down the ally in Manchester city centre highlights the shape of the female body with low lighting and shadows that highlight the body shape.
6. “Does the video feature any intertextual reference?”There are plenty of ideas we thought of due to the analysis of other KOL and Pixie Lott videos such as the fast shot of Ryan washing his face which also features in the bridge; this was an idea taken from the fast shot of Caleb, lead singer and guitarist from KOL in the shower in their Use Somebody video. Also the ally shot and mobile phone screen text were ideas taken from the “It’s all about tonight” Pixie Lott video as she dances on a dark, outside location and views a text message on her smart phone.(INSERT STILLS FOR COMPARING) Other Pixie Lott intertextual references were also from the studio shots, from her Use Somebody cover video. We made sure we used similar shots and positions such as mid-shots from the side and facial close-ups to make the female character recognisable and build motifs just like most real artists do throughout the video.
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