When deciding what to do for the music video of "Cool kids". Me and Shelby came up with a few music videos that we could watch to give us an idea what to do. They all mostly consisted of the same theme where there is a conflict with cool kids or the idea of being cool.
The first video is "Katy Perry - Last Friday Night". In this video we see Katy Perry as a "Goofy un-cool" girl with the stereotypical glasses and braces. She then goes over to the party next door to tell them to be quite but instantly falls in love with the scene and vibe of cool kids. This is when Rebecca Black gives Katy a make-over to fit in. The idea that we wanted to use as inspiration is the make-over and reveal of Katy; this would be a good convention to have in our video as it matches the lyrics of "I wish that I could be like the cool kids"; therefore our character got her wish come true.
The second video is "Taylor Swift - You belong with me". In this video we see Taylor Swift fall for a guy who is dating on of the popular girls. Throughout the video we see constant conflict between Taylor and the rival cool girl. In the end the boy chooses Taylor. The inspiration we got from this video was the attitude, appearance and rudeness of the cool kids; we wanted this bully in our video so that we could break this idea and have them belittled instead of winning.
The last video is "Little Mix - Black Magic". In this video we see a twist on how a group of un-cool goony kids transform into people who challenge the mean cool kids and they win over their school. The inspiration from this video that we wanted is the reveal, challenging the cool kids, the goony costumes and then being better than the cool kids towards the end.
Echosmith is an American indie pop band formed in February 2009 in Chino, California. The band is composed of four siblings: Graham, Sydney, Noah, and Jamie Sierota. Echosmith started first as "Ready Set Go!" until they signed to Warner Bros. Records in May 2012. They are best known for their hit song "Cool Kids", which reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified double platinum by the RIAA with over 1,200,000 sales in the United States and double platinum also by ARIA in Australia. The song was Warner Bros. Records' fifth-biggest-selling-digital song of 2014, with 1.3 million downloads sold. The band's debut album, Talking Dreams, was released on October 8, 2013. Member and their roles: Graham Jeffery David Sierota–drums Sydney Grace Ann Sierota–lead vocalsandkeyboards Noah Jeffery Joseph Sierota–bass guitarandbacking vocals Past members Jamie Jeffery Harry Sierota - lead guitar and backing vocals (2009–16) Awards Here is a image of the awards they have been nominated for:
As you can see they have not won any awards but have only been nominated.
She sees them walking in a straight line,
That's not really her style
And they all got the same heartbeat
But hers is falling behind.
Nothing in this world could
Ever bring them down
Yeah, they're invincible, and she's just in the background
And she says
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
Like the cool kids
He sees them talking with a big smile
But they haven't got a clue
Yeah, they're living the good life
Can't see what he is going through
They're driving fast cars
But they don't know where they're going
In the fast lane, living life without knowing
And he says
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
Like the cool kids
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
'Cause all the cool kids they seem to get it
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
Like the cool kids
And they said
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
Like the cool kids
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
Like the cool kids
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to get it
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
Like the cool kids
In this post i will be showing me and my team gaining permission from an artist to use her song. This was our very first song choice and here is the email we sent. This song is "Sucks to be you" by Emma Blackery
We never got an email back from the artist as we expected so we had to change our song choice which does not require permission to use. This is because Youtube do not seem to be strict with this this song and they are not pulling done content from other people other than Vevo. Therefore this means we are free to use our song of choice without any repercussions. This second song choice is "Cool Kids" by Echosmith
When choosing a track, we had many different ideas of what type of genre music and what conventions to include. Sarah wanted to do a rock/indie song as this is what she listens to so she would know many songs that would suit us. I wanted to do a pop song as the lyrics would be better to use as we can interpret them in different ways so we had more to work with. Shelby also wanted to do pop as she was the on who would be singing and pop is what she would feel most comfortable with.
We decided to watch a variety of music videos to see what we liked and what sort of ideas we could do. We found Katy Perry - "Last Friday Night" which we thought had really good ideas and conventions so we tried to look for a pop song that would have different lyric meanings but we could use the same idea. This was our research into finding the pop song
We also looked into rock/indie songs and i remembered a YouTuber i currently watch has a good song we could use so we watched that as a group and we all liked it however this song has copyright and we would need permission to use it. This ended up being the only rock/indie song we liked so we decided to use pop songs.
Here is the rock/indie song we wanted to use.
We was browsing through youtube with different songs and clicking on those that are similar in the suggestions can we came across many videos that could give us ideas and we also found the song we wanted to you. This song is Echosmith - "Cool Kids".
Here is the music video.
The model of the media is a flow chart that analyses how media institutions produce their media products, then how these products reach the customers then lastly the customers paying for these products to the institution. This creates a cycle so it is essentially infinite.
This model would be used by institutions to work out different strategies that they can undertake.
Here is the model that i drew:
So firstly, the institution needs to produce and distribute their product. Institutions are the companies that are within the media so this can be BBC, Netflix and news companies. This can be any company that reaches out the the public using media text.
So media text is the product made, this can be on TV, film or a video game. These texts can portray different messages to the audience.
The audience is the people who buy/ use these media text. They may use it for entertainment and can use different resources to access them like a games console or Netflix for movies etc. The audience pay for this product and service which is the financial transaction; the institution gets money so they can make more media text.
In class we spoke about features that need to be included in both the digipak and the magazine advert. We felt these features were essential to make both successful, effective and attractive.
The feature of the digipak include:
Name of album and the artist
6 panels of images in the correct order
List of songs
Spines
Barcode
We was then provided with a layout of the digipak so we had a better understanding of where to put our 6 panels:
Alex Southam is currently a music video producer and is considered one of the biggest currently. However Southam wasn't originally interested in this area of the media as he wanted to be a lawyer. Once he was set on his path in the music video industry, he taught himself all the camera, lighting and editing techniques that he would need to know. Southam had the opportunity to work with Agile films. Since improving his skills and making some low budget music videos, he now does freelance work for OB management.
Southam's first big hit video was "Alt J - Tesselate". The music video was filmed in a 1 day and the next few days were spent on editing to add some effects on premiere pro. The budget for this film was £10 000 which is relatively small. Due to the success of the video Southam went on to work with other people and make more successful video; one of which is "Cruel - Snakeships FT Zayn Malik". The video and song was extremely popular and is for sure Southam's biggest hit. Here are both of the videos:
Emil Nave is a music video director that has created some successful videos for big artists. Currently he freelances for OB Management which is a music video agency that aims to:
Emil Nava
Nurture talent
Work with production companies
Work with record labels
Match the right director to the right artist
Emil Nava with Ed Sheeran
Before freelance work, Nave was a runner for a film production company. A runner is someone who does the low down jobs like getting coffee and running things around the set. Afterwards we worked at blink productions where he became an assistant director and was recognised so was signed at Academy - they are one of the biggest music video production companies.
At his busiest, Nava made 24 music videos within one year; these included some big artists like Ed Sheeran, Jessie J, Paloma Faith and Rita Ora
Nava's first hit video was for a band "Kid British" with the song "Our House". The budget for this video was £20 000. His current hits have much bigger budgets; one for Jessie J being £160 000
Here are some videos that Emil has directed:
The music video for Rita Ora - RIP is very successful as Nava uses his own tip of using close ups and extreme close ups of faces. We see Rita's face a lot in this standard and general pop video. The mise-en-scene and editing really makes this look and feel like a high production and stereotypical pop video which is why this video was successful. As this video is just Rita walking and performing this video just illustrates the lyrics.
"Rita Ora - RIP"
Lego House by Ed Sheeran contradicts the meaning of the lyrics as in the video we see an obsessive stalker with is obsessed with Ed. This does not match the lyrics of the song as its a love song. On the other hand as its a long song then this could amplify the meaning further as the stalker could be seen as a crazed fan who loves Ed like his other millions of fans.
With the medium/low budget that Nava had on this video, I feel like its very successful as a range of shot types, editing and mise-n-scene is used making the video still look professional and high production.
"Ed Sheeran - Lego House"
Jessie J - Price Tag is Nava's most successful music video as not only was it very popular and was a hit but it also helped make Jessie J much more famous and this is considered the point where her career exploded. Due to Nava's camera work, editing and mise-en-scene, this video looks high production and had all the conventions of a pop video. The video amplifies the meaning of the lyrics as the video shows that Jessie didn't worr about money as a kid unlike todays generation. This amplifies the lyrics as the lyrics are about not worrying about money in general and just being happy.
Jamie Thraves is a famous music video director, he has worked with many artists to make them successful music videos. At the start of this career, Thraves was in university where he many a few short films to boost his directing and knowledge. His most successful short film as "Calling cards" and this caught the attention of a production company - "Factory Films". They gave Thraves £15 000 to make three music videos (£5000 each). These music videos helped to get him noticed internationally; he was scouted by Japanese pop groups to make their videos, the budget for these were £20 000. After doing some videos around the world on small budgets, Thraves then worked with his first big group where we had a £100 000 budget to work with. This group was "Radiohead". He has since earned a reputation for taking only 2/3 days to finish a music video as for both the Japanese group and Radiohead were completed in this time frame. Here is the video he directed for Radiohead
Radiohead - Just
After this huge success with Radiohead, Thraves went on to work with many other big artists which has helped him achieve the success he has today. Here is one example
Sam Smith - Money on my mind
Sam Smith - Stay with me
Thraves moved on from music videos and now directs feature films. He said advice for making a good music video is taking the lyrics and building the conventions around them, but not in a literal way but using the emotion and subtext meaning.
The first video that i will analyse is Lily Allen - "Hard out Here". Many believe this video is very sexist and objectifying as its contradicting the lyrics; the lyrics meaning is that for women its very hard to be in the music industry as men are always in control and make women do sexy and objectifying movements and things. Therefore this video is seen as contradicting as there are girls in the video doing the exact thing that it being criticised. however I personally see this as amplifying the meaning to something more; the video lyrics portray Lily's feelings against objectifying women so by doing this is the video shows what she means by this as an example. Furthermore the most popular videos usually have women being objectified as this is what people currently like, so by doing this, the music video will become popular to get more views - so it gets more people to see what the industry is really like and raises more awareness. Therefore I personally think it was a marketing strategy.
The second video that I feel is not sexist is Nicki Minaj - "Anaconda". This is another video that people think is sexist as it has more women being objectified. However once again I feel that its a marketing strategy as Nicki Minaj is very popular for showing her assets but that's at her own will and not her management. She calls this other side her alter ego so therefore a video can not be sexist if it was constructed by Nicki herself. This video illustrates the lyrics from the song as its a jungle theme which is connected to the metaphor of an anaconda. This video promotes accepting your body for being larger but however it shames women with slimmer bodies with no curves.
"Lily Allen - Hard Out Here"
"Nicki Minaj - Anaconda"
Sexist/objectifying
Moving onto the sexist videos, I will start off with Robin Thicke - "Blurred Lines". This is a video that I find extremely objectifying as the song lyrics are speculated to be about rape or domination over women. The music video illustrates the lyrics as we see (in both versions on the video) girls walking around being sexy just to please the men; in the explicit version these women are topless. Therefore this video is very objectifying as its about men have more power and women are seen as objects of lust and sex.
The next sexist video is Britney Spears - "Make me". This video is sexist as I feel like it objectifies both men and women at the same time. This is because the music video is about a group of women trying to find Britney and good looking man to feature with her in some few scene for a music video. This objectifies men as they are being seen as tools to be used as women to make them more popular or even to be used by women for sexual desire (as she is looking for the best looking man). This also objectifies women as it seems Britney NEEDS a man in the video to help her so it make women seem like they need men and are just objects for them. Furthermore, this is the second video to this song as the first was too sexual so she had to make a completely new one. This indicates that the themes for both of these videos are too sexualised and are just using looks for popularity.
Michael Jackson was one of the first people to make music videos a priority and to make them more of an art form. I'm going to analyse some of his videos to show what they represent and how popular he was.
Thriller
This music video is what really made Michael Jackson popular as it boosted his career due to the artistic music video. It was considered a short film and was shown in cinema and on CD's which included the making of the music video. Every teen then became fans of Michael and he earned millions. Furthermore this was when Michael was his most popular as he had no surgery and people saw his as "Normal"; there were also no rumours circulating about him so therefore he was very likable by millions of people.
In the video we see all of Goodwin's conventions that a video should have which is what made it successful. The variety of shots and mise-en-scene really made this video artistic. I feel that the music video illustrates the lyrics as its not making a further meaning and is not contradicting. The music video seems to follow the conventions of the lyrics as we see all the beast and ghouls and its at midnight.
Black or white
Around the time the "Black or White" music video was released, this was just after Michael had surgery that really change his appearance drastically. However this song was released just before rumours of child molestation circulated. This means that his fans were seeing Michael in a new way due to his appearance and the hate he got from doing these procedures.
Michael released the album "Dangerous" that had a few songs to give messages to the world about anti-hate and to love everyone and yourself. His motive was because he received hate about his surgery and the most common thing said was that he was abandoning his black roots which he should of embraced etc.
In the music video for Black or White, it has all of Goodwin's conventions which therefore makes this video successful. I feel like this video amplifies the meaning of the lyrics as we see many different ethnicities and nationalities; this means that Michael is amplifying the meaning to world peace and that we are all the same but so unique.
Audience reception theory is based on how different media texts use different characteristics and interpretations to get different responses from an audience. The audience are influenced or get a effect from these texts. These media texts can include music, music videos, TV, film, magazines and adverts.
Encoding/decoding theory
Here is a model of this theory:
So from this model we can see that producers put messages in a media text for the audience to see and pick up on. These messages could be through talking, writing, visuals, body language and intertextual references. In the context of reception theory we are looking at messages that are secondary and hidden behind the main text. Therefore the main method that producers will use is body language as one action or position could mean something different to people based on their age, culture, religion etc.
When the audience read these messages they will have a different reaction:
Preferred reading - this is when the audience agree with the producers encoded message like how people who eat meat would agree with advertisements of meat products and junk foods containing animal sources.
Negotiated reading - this is when the audience partially agrees with the message like healthy living people would agree with advertisements of meat products and vegetables but not those with preservatives and chemicals in.
Oppositional reading - this is when the audience disagrees with the message like when vegetarians and vegans would oppose meat products and junk foods.
Encoding/decoding in music videos
Managers of music artists will encode messages within music videos to give further meanings to the fans and also in the hopes of getting more money.
Fans of the artist and the target audience would be preferred readers as they would support the artists and all of the messages that are connected to the.
Negotiated readers would be the secondary target audience as they would partially agree with the music video.
Parents and people who dislike the artist/video would be oppositional readers and would have negative opinions on the music video.
An example where the artist uses body language to give a message would be Hailee Steinfield in her video "Starving"
A preferred reader would see Hailee's body language as playful but sexy at the same time. This is a good thing as she isn't over-sexualised and her actions match the meaning of the lyrics. Furthermore they could say that the body language of the men feature in the video is very serious giving the representation that the main focus is Hailee. This is true as she is the main singer of the song so attention should be draw away from her.
A negotiated reader would see the body language of Hailee also as sexy and playful but they could disagree with some of her costumes as they are short and some revealing. This second target market could be younger than the main target market therefore over-sexualised costumes would not appeal to them.
Oppositional readers would see both the body language, costumes and even some of her make-up to be too sexualised and could see Hailee being objectified. Her body language is too sexual, costumes very revealing and her makeup makes her look flawless (like a doll) which gives fault representations to younger girls.
I would be a preferred reader as I agree with all of these messages. I feel like she is not over-sexualised as compared to other artist Hailee is covert up and her movements sometimes look stiff which mean's she isn't being too flirty. I feel like her make-up is fine as ive seen pictures of her natural and she looks almost the same therefore this doesn't give fault representations to younger girls as Hailee isn't being drastically changed like other artists.
I done this animatic so that i could get an idea on how to construct a music video. From doing this task we saw a great example of how to edit to the beat and how to have many different shots/angle. So from doing this animatic we got further practise off editing and enhanced our premiere pro skills by using the marker tool again.
So in the animatic we had to get all our drawings in time with the actual video so we gained the skill of editing to the beat.
In this exercise we was given some footage of dance mascots and a song. Our task was to edit the footage to the song; making sure that the editing is to the beat and the movements match the singing. The purpose of this practise is to enhance ou editing skills and techniques in a new way as we used different methods. These tools we leaned could help with editing our music video
Richard
Dyer came up with a theory about stars in the film, music and magazine
industry. These stars and celebrities are shown to be flawless and perfect as
this is how the audience want to see them portrayed. However, Dyer believes
that the audience of these different media want to see "real" stars
meaning we see their true emotions, actions and appearance. Therefore, Dyer's
theory about these media institutions is that they manufacture and construct
these stars to fit their needs for financial benefits.
The
reason stars are constructed and manufactured is so that each star individually
attracts a different target market. This means that with a variety of stars
means hat every different person can be targeted in one way or another meaning
that money can be exploited from everyone.
Manufactured
stars appear to be perfect in every aspect therefore this ideology results in
many fans imitating and copying this star. This is an attempt to either become
more relatable to the star or so the fans see themselves as more perfect. These
benefits media institutions like record labels as they can sell merchandise to
make even more money.
Some
examples of manufactured stars could be: Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. Justin
Bieber is a manufactured star as he was in the spotlight from a young age
meaning that media institutions could easily manipulate him and his image. He
was changed to target young girls around the age of 12 and he had merchandise
made for everything these young girls would need like bags, lunchboxes, towels
etc. In recent years, he is not manipulated as much as he has ditched this
image he was given and shows his true self.
Lady Gaga
is a constructed star as she was given a whole new image, and name. This meant
that she could be a completely different person (like a alter ego) so that she
could sell more records and have bigger hits. She was shaped to be a weird and
abstract person but with very relatable music where the meaning could be
twisted into something darker. Furthermore, her costumes and hair where always
different and very strategic to get people talking for more money.
Stars who are being their real self are
automatically more relatable to audiences as the star is not perfect. As fans
and audiences already relate to the star, they feel like they don't need to
change to suit that star’s ideology. As fan are not buying all merchandise the
star will essentially make less money for the institutions however more people
will be interested in buying the music and going to concerts meaning the star
will still be extremely popular.
Some
examples of "real" stars could be: Adele and Demi Lovato.
Adele is a real star as she is a larger woman who hasn't changed her weight to
fit into society's standards; she also lets her true emotions show as most of
her songs are based on relationships and breakups.
Demi Lovato is a seen as real due to her rocky
past that she has embraced rather than hide. She dealt with serious issues
which affected her mental health and was put into rehab. This makes her
emotions and actions real, not manufactured.
In the mid-1990s, family management team Bob Herbert, Chris Herbert and Lindsey Casbon set about creating a girl group to compete with popular boy bands that dominated the pop music scene in the mid- to late-1990s.
In February 1994, Heart Management placed an advertisement in The Stage trade magazine asking; "WANTED: R.U. 18–23 with the ability to sing/dance? R.U. streetwise, outgoing, ambitious, and dedicated?
Spice girls in their signature outfits that match their personality
Clothing Their clothes were "carefully chosen for their first appearance on American TV. :
Victoria in a sophisticated slinky black number,
Emma in a baby-pink dress,
Mel B in her leopard-skin trousers,
Geri in red hot pants, top and bra,
Mel C in her favourite Liverpool shirt and tracksuit bottoms
"Selling" the Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were sold to us as a group of friends, just goofing off and making top-selling singles together. This is the main theme and idea for "Wannabe"
They were actually a carefully selected group of strangers chosen, after hundreds of auditions.
They had endless merchandising and sponsorship deals, and were involved with everything from Pepsi ads to Polaroid ads to Barbie-style Spice Girls dolls.
Spice Girls Barbie dolls
Everything about them—including their Scary/Posh/Sporty/etc. nicknames was under the control of men or corporations. Geri Halliwell.
(“Ginger Spice”) almost didn’t make it into the group, because she looked older than the other girls; when they asked her age, she reportedly said, “I’m as old as you want me to be. I’ll be 10 with big boobs if you want".”
Katy Perry
Katy Perry's target audience is young girls aged 14-17. In order to appeal to this group Katy Perry has to be like an ideal older sister and friend. She has to be an idealised version of them. Her songs and her videos have to reflect many of the fears and anxieties young girls have. When Katy Perry appears "sexy" it has to be in a safe and non-threatening way. So firstly we have "Firework" which is the perfect video for her target age as its all about self confidence for a range of issues and how to love yourself. This appeals to her target audience as 14 - 17 year old have many insecurities. This video reflects that her personal life is average and she is making music to help and support her audience.
"Firework"
Interestingly her "Brand" suffered when she married the womanising Russell Brand. Suddenly her videos became more sexual and knowing. Because of this change her young audience became disinterested. Her image of "Sexy" in this video was completely changed which seemed to frighten her audience more as Katy was in less clothing and bright colours. This video represent ho her personal life was changing as she was maturing for Russell. Therefore she became for sexual but attempted to stay connected with her target audience by making the theme candy.
"California Gurls"
Following a messy divorce from Brand, Perry needed to use her videos to apologise and explain to her fans and to state she was still the same person she was before she met him. To do this she made "Wide Awake" which showed a journey of Katy finding her inner child to reconnect with her audience, she goes through some trials and a maze to get to her happy ending which is back before Russell came into her life. To show this at the very beginning we see her leave to set of California Gurls which is clearly a metaphor.
"Wide Awake"
After her successful attempt to reconnect with her audience, Katy has started making music fit for her audience where she is not threatening. A good example of this is in "Roar" where Katy becomes a self sufficient woman and doesn't need a man to survive which is a strong message for her audience.This reflects her personal life as we can see she is back to her original self and has gotten over Russell.
