"Voilà ma petite Amélie, vous n'avez pas des os en verre. Vous pouvez vous cogner à la vraie vie. Si vous laissez passer cette chance, alors- avec le temps c'est votre coeur qui va devenir aussi sec et cassant que mon squelette."
-The Glass Man, Amélie
Artist: Benga "I Will Never Change" Genre: Club Director(s) of Music Video: Us Category: Concept
Genre Characteristics I think because of the tendency to lack lyrics, msot music videos of this genre tend to be concept based. When a piece of music has lyrics put to it that immdeiately changes the situation since the listeners are given another hint as to what the song is expressing. With music like "I Will Never Change" for example, the only thing you have to clue you in on the meaning is the instrumentation. Although I'm not that big a fan of the musical track itself, I actually think this is a very well constructed video.
After having gained permission from our artist Amanda Rogers, our group decided to listen to the song and start to brainstorm some ideas. The notes below represent the decisions we have made so far. We're also in the process of arranging a reccie to explore possible natural locations. At the moment our list of areas includes Black Park, Langley Park and Burnham Beeches. Our group have estimated that the Burnham location will be the most suitable judging by the visual research we've done so far.
Camera & Editing
- Incorporating a flip book (made by our group) as a way of displaying lyrics which will be filmed in stop motion
- Perhaps other use of stop motion in exterior locations as well as interior.
- Achieved through either filming in live action and handpicking stills which will be strung together in After Effects to form a stop motion animation OR taking separate photographs
- Main performer in black + white in a coloured room ripping magazine paper off walls, to reveal a layer of b+w news paper underneath. As the paper is ripped off the performer slowly turns to colour and the surroundings turn b+w.
- Inter-cutting shots of all of our group members portraying the role of "Amanda" throughout music video- or simply in one section. Each member of our group would serve to represent the different definitions of beauty.
Mise-En-Scene
- Use of red thread that will be present in every shot as a constant for the video. This will reflect the pre-existing album design from which our song was taken. The red thread will also reflect this idea of "heartwood" and finally lead to a string heart in the palm of our performer.
- Ripping and burning newspaper and/or magazine images to represent turning your back to the way our society defines beauty.
- Close-up shots of our performer in a billowing dress running
- Use of a general nature theme and/or elements to reflect the image of Amanda Rogers
Locations
- Filmed in two main locations- a nature park/forest and a studio or room
- Nature location must include trees
Synaesthesia is generally defined as a neurological condition. The triggering of one sensory (e.g. nose-smell) usually leads to the triggering of another (e.g. texture- feel) through cognitive pathways in the brain.There can be many types of synaesthesia ranging from associating numbers, places and letters with colours to visualising "something like fireworks" to specific sounds.
All of us, in a small quantity can be said to have synaesthesia in the sense that when we hear certain music we think of certain things, and our brains formulate a visual response to the sound waves. Andrew Goodwin's theory summarizes this in relation to visualising music videos-
"A clip that responds to the pleasures of music, and in which that music is made visual, either in new ways or in ways that accentuate existing visual associations."
- Andrew Goodwin (Dancing in the Distraction Factory 1993)
The article by Steve Archer, from which this quote was taken discusses how synaesthesia is arguably the essential starting point of creating any music video. He justifies this by saying that the closer the visualisations of a music video are to what you visualize upon hearing the sounds, the closer the relationship between the music (video) and the audience.
In his article, Steve Archer states that it's best to start with the raw music in the process of creating a music video. Only after the impact of the sounds on the visuals have been considered is it then wise to move onto analysing the meaning and content of the lyrics. Archer encourages us to take the approach of theorist Roland Barthes who "sees the singing voice as an expressive instrument" and not as a separate entity from the accompanying instrumentation. Indeed a voice can affect the visualisation of a song greatly; for example softly hummed melodies could evoke a serene ocean, whilst the growling vocals of Tom Waits may evoke the complete opposite.
The example below is the song our group had a go at responding to visually. The following video by Tom Waits is an example of a contrasting song.
Red- Phoria
Tom Waits - Satisfied
The visual response our brains formulate to a piece of music will, undoubtedly have some cultural inter-textual references embedded somewhere. For example the sound of a musette may evoke a Parisian scenery, as our culture stereotypically associates this instrument with France. It is a combination of these intertextual references, associations and combinations of personal experiences and events that together, formulate the images in our minds.
Our Response
Our class put this process to the test through listening to two different songs, and simply responding on a piece of paper with a pen. Interestingly most people opted to draw single lines following the feel of the music, rather than drawing specific objects/scenes. Whilst I think that this was effective in capturing the general movement of the song (e.g. distinguishing key moments of progression- texture becoming thicker/thinner) it didn't really capture the exact visualisations that came to mind during the song, simply because I couldn't draw them quick enough. However, after discussing as a group how we would interpret our visual response, we came up with similar imagery, and developed our visualisations into a music video concept. We did this through observing the patterns in our drawings and questioning how we could apply this. Once we decided upon certain aspects we then discussed what other imagery came to mind when listening to the song for the second time.
Other Responses
Nina Simone - Feeling Good
The maker of the video above was given the assignment of creating a visual response to music using only type and typographic elements. In a way, I thought the goal of this final product and assignment was similar to ours. All the elements employed in this video I would argue convey the appropriate feel of the song; the black & white jazz theme fits in very well with the jazzy tone of the music, different imagagery reflecting lyrical content as well as the layering structure of the song etc...
Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know?
When I watched this music video, I was immediately reminded of the drawings we made in class in response to the music we listened to. The video similarly displays a direct link between what's occurring in the music and on the screen through the use of something like a frequency bar. The strong tempo is depicted in a variety of ways throughout this music video. Primarily this is achieved through the drastic drop and rise of the sound wave on the frequency bar. As the other vocals come in the frequency bar picks up on this layer of music, the same goes for the bass, backup guitar and vocals.
Music used in films (particularly blockbuster hits) is obviously a very effective way of promoting an artist or improving their image, provided the movie is successful. The music or lyric video will usually include excerpts from the film and this will be the main narrative throughout the video. The artist will then be filmed performing the song in a location reflecting the verisimilitude of the film and this will be edited into the sequence. The songs these music videos tend to be made for are most likely the lead singles off the soundtrack. They not only promote the film, but if this film were a success (as the ones displayed below were) then this is extra publicity for the artist performing the song. Both "Skyfall" (by Adele) and "Everything I Do (I do it for you)" by Bryan Adams were massive hits at the time the films Skyfall and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves were released. "Everything I Do" stayed in the charts for about 20 weeks after it was released, following the success of the film. As I mentioned in my post on music video history, this was essentially how music videos began; many songs from musical films (which were a very popular film form at the time of the 50's & 60's) would be aired on TV as a way to advertise the film.
The genre of rock can be characterised as extremely expressive music. However, this statement seems strange when considering that music in general is supposed to be a form of expression; genres simply define the different ways musicians prefer to make their opinion heard. A heavy metal rock artist may express him/herself more loudly and aggressively than a jazz artist, who may opt for a smoother, quieter vocal line. Nevertheless, rock music does have an air of freedom about it, particularly when you consider it's origins. Blues and Rock 'n' Roll are the parents of the general rock genre. They were both born out of the thirst for freedom. Blues was born in the voices of black slaves singing for liberation during times of extreme inequality in our culture.Whereas Rock 'n' Roll music came about at a time when teenagers started rebelling against the expectations and pressures of older generations. Rock possesses both the loudness and speed of rock 'n' roll music and the soul and desperation in blues.
"Rock places a higher degree of emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and an ideology of authenticity than pop music." - Wikipedia
There are over 222 sub genres of rock in music; the most popular sun genres are- Punk Rock, Classic Rock, Heavy Metal, Indie/Alternative, Pop-Rock, Funk Rock & Grunge among others. Rock music tends to consist mainly of bands rather than solo acts, so naturally- the spotlight will be shared by the entire band, some more than others. This is not to say that there isn't a "front man" of a band, but more that the band is an important part of the bigger picture rather than just there to support the main act. A front man typically takes the position of lead singer and/or lead guitarist as these are generally thought of as the main roles of a band. It's rare to have a band where the front man is a drummer or bassist.
Greenday, Punk
Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Funk
Nirvana, Grunge/Alternative
BB Brunes, Pop Rock
Muse, Alternative
Conventions of the Rock Genre
Almost all rock videos feature the full band in their music videos. This draws focus to each of the musical aspects of the song, and acknowledges that the instruments are just as important to the quality of the music as the lead singer/front man is. This convention demonstrates the band's connection to their musical creations, compared to some artists who concern themselves more with their image rather than their music. That's not to say that there aren't bad rock artists out there. There have been cases where a band will make music that fits into a rock genre and borrows all the conventions just to appear "cool" and enhance their image.
By establishing the different roles in a band, it creates a closer relationship between the fans and the performers. It's common for band members to develop their own, individual aesthetic or personality as they become known for the role they play in the band. This tends to be common with bands who have been around for a longer period of time and therefore will have gradually become known as that particular personality or role. For example, most people will recognize Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers because he's the bassist with the blue hair. The same goes for Dave Grohl from Nirvana who famously plays the drums.
Specific music video conventions depend directly upon the sub-genre you're referring to, as each genre has a different "sound" which directly affects how the band chooses to represent this sound.
Generic Conventions of Rock Videos
- Can be extremely serious or extremely weird
- Can have a dark/eerie feel
- Stationary camera is rare- a lot of movement
- Editing tends to be fast paced to keep up with fast paced tempo
- Almost always have a performance aspect- this is common in all sub-genres
- Some rock videos tend to adopt a retro/down-to-earth style through using black & white cinematography and retro outfits
- Group shots to establish band
- (extreme) close-ups (often of the front man)
Sometimes a music video will portray one out of various interpretations of the song. Other times it will simply lay out the narrative and let the audience derive from it what they can by themselves.
2. Make the song memorable
Many music videos have broken and even sometimes made fun of music video conventions, for the purpose of making it memorable. An example would be psy's famous Gangnam Style or Duck Sauce's Barbra Streistand. Some other artists prefer to take a different approach and create a great music video that isn't out of the blue, shot well and generates an impact from an audience.
3. Display other talents of an artist
Anything from dancing to acting or playing an instrument could be another talent embedded within the music video. Michael Jackson made himself famous for his dance moves, particularly in the two hit songs Bad and Thriller.
