Research music video 7 : LP- Tokyo Sunrise (2014)

Genre: Indie rock
Style: Performance based

The opening shot of the music video starts with a long shot of the singer walking across the stage which can possibly be used in order to show the audience who will be performing. The costume that the singer is wearing is very simple and casual. What is interesting about this shot is that there is minimal colour and the star's face is not shown, as the dim light is coming from behind her, and this makes her appear like a silhouette. I personally really like this shot and I believe we could use something like that within our own music video, as it can also represent the star, or the actor in a very interesting and possibly a mysterious way, as I believe it can enhance the character that the performer is trying to achieve.
The use of a casual costume that is in darker tones follows indie conventions as they are usually low budget, therefore they are not custom made,or extremely expensive.


Strauss binary opposite theory can be applied to this music video, however, it would not be adhered to. The star image is mostly shown as a silhouette, however, she is not  an evil character at all, as she is just a performer, and therefore, I believe that this way of filming is used to spark interest within the viewers as to what does she look like, or what will happen next? I believe that using shots like that will be beneficial for our music video, however, not as much as in this music video, as we need to show the face of the star that we are launching to create a relationship with our desired TA.
The movements that the star makes within this music video are very relaxed and look like they weren't posed, and happened naturally as part of the performance. Using such naturalistic moves creates an extremely believable star image, which is what we are trying to achieve, that is why we want to include such shots as well.
  
Apart from the singer, there are no characters or any concepts of a narrative in this video, that's why the only other people in the music video are performers. I believe the reason why they are in the video is because they bring in intertextual references to the lyrics that mention Tokyo, as these are traditional Japanese drums that the performers are using. The deeper connections between the visuals and the music are really interesting, and I feel that we could definitely create something like that as well.

However, what is interesting about the costumes that they are wearing is that all of the drummers are blindfolded, which could possibly represent being unaware of what is ahead, of being unable to see the light/future. Or it could also possibly mean blindly following something/ someone, for example the singer in this video.

The use of such an effect can possibly portray two sides to a situation, or two different thoughts/ self conflict about a situation. I believe this is a really interesting symbolic way to portray something like that.
I   feel that this effect looks very interesting in this video not only because of what it represents, but the simple aesthetics of it.
 (I would definitely consider using such an effect in my own music video, possibly to represent self doubt.)

Because the mise-en-scene in this video is minimalistic, there is not much that can be changed, yet the change of colour made a drastic difference to the look of the video.

What is interesting within this music is that something as minimal as changing the colour of the background has such a huge effect and impact. The sudden change to the bright orange hue can represent the 'sunrise' which the song is named after and how strong it is.' we'll see the same sun on the rise' can be the link between the visuals and the lyrics, which is a music video theory by Goodwin that can be applied to this music video at times.

After a long time of only being able to see the silhouette of the singer, a few brief close up shots of her face are shown that reveal to the audience her facial expression and how she is expressing her emotions through the singing. 
I believe that these rare shots are very powerful and have a big impact as they are not seen every second, which adds interest to the music video.



What I noticed throughout this music video is that although the singer's face is seen a few times, she always has her eyes closed and therefore the audience never gets to see them.
I believe this can be linked to the Goodwin theory that states there is a link between the visuals and the lyrics, as she always has her eyes closed possibly because within the lyrics it repeatedly says 'I'll see you again' or 'We'll see-' which can represent that as long as she cannot see the person, she will not look at all. Or it could be linked to the name in the simplest way that the sunrise would be blinding to look at, so it is best to have your eyes  closed.

The final shot in the music video is another shot with effects which shows the artist leaving from both sides. This could imply that there was two ways to achieve/perform something and there would be two outcomes, that is why there were two of them who left.

What I found most interesting about this music video is the use of very simple effects and how the minimal use of some shots can make them very important when they do end up on the screen, such as the close ups of her face and how rare they were in comparison to the silhouetted shots of her full body.

How this research influenced my planning and creativity:

• I really want to try and use lighting to create similar silhouette effect on a performer, although it depends whether it would suit my genre
• The use of props/ movements that could represent lyrics
• interesting effects, such as the mirrored effect on the singer

Research music video 6: Lady gaga- born this way

Style: Post modern, concept, performance based
Genre: electropop






How this research influenced my planning and creativity: 

• If the song that we choose is too short, or we would want an introduction, we could also create a mini narrative before the song begins
• I would like to try interesting costume that can possibly represent something
• Strong, bold makeup
• Choreography

Research group post: brand label name

Rhea, Ryan and I have looked into some brand names that would be suitable for us to use, and we thought of  a few names, however, all of them seemed to be taken. After some time, the name 'Reckless Records' popped into our heads and we have looked into it hoping that it wasn't taken, and to our joy it was not, as it was only a music shop that sells vinyls that uses that name.
We believe that this name represents us as a team really well, and it will suit the genre of the music/artist that we will pick in the future. Now all that is left to do is to create a logo and our brand seal will be complete.

Research music video 5: establishing shots of indie music videos

These are the first 10 shots of music videos that are similar in genre to what my group are going to create. It can be seen that a large amount of them are either closeups of the performer, or the performer so that he can be seen either in full body or from far apart. I believe that these are used for a reason, in order to create a relationship with the audience that are seeking out to their music. I believe since we are creating a brand new star, either a closeup would be suitable, or a long shot of the star so the audience will be able to see what the star looks like from afar. I believe this is also used for dramatic effect and to start off the narrative/performative part of the video.

How this post influenced my planning and creativity:

• I am seriously considering using a closeup as our first shot in order to let the audience see the star right from the first moment the video starts
• If we decide not to use a closeup, we will use a long shot in order to get the full body of the star and show the audience in fully who will be performing in the video.

Planning: asking for copyright

I have contacted the institution asking for copyright permission for a song that we are interested in using for our music video, hopefully everything will work out fine.

Research: ideas for our digipak 1

Research: possible location shot for music video

This could be a possible location shot for our music video,  however, there is one issue, getting there would be quite difficult with all of the actors, as there would either have to be more than one car, or multiple trips, all for possibly one shot, and I am not sure if it's worth it. However, if this shot is ideal for a lyric of a song that we might choose, as the location itself has interesting art on the walls, and the distress on them links to our genre. The fact that the art is created using the style of graffiti links to our youthful genre and ideas for the music video that we have. The stereotypical representation of graffiti is crime related, however, when looking at how this style has taken a different spin and been turned into art shows that stereotypes can be broken. The use of graffiti within our music video would also be linked to Barthes' signs and signifiers theory due to the use of the connotation and the defying of it.
 I think that the unconventional floor is really interesting as well which makes the location more diverse. However, the main problem with this location is that it is abroad, and we cannot fly over to another country to make our music video, simply because we cannot afford to go there only for shots for the video.

Music Video Research 4: Taylor Swift- Love Story (2008)

Taylor swift love story from GretaAsMedia

Music Video research 3: Geri Halliwell- It's Raining Men (2001)

 Genre: pop

The point of this music video is to appeal to the audiences yet again and show the world the transformation of the star (The drastic haircut, the toned body) which is all a part of Geri's new image.

Overall, the video mainly consists of dancing and singing into camera, which are references of two films, the start of the video looking very similar to Flashdance (1983), with the judges and Geri's costume, especially of the star. The video conventionally involves a lot of closeups of her body, as she is trying to appeal to both male/female audiences, according to Janice Winship, by exposing most of her body and trying to look aesthetic to both males and females, however for different reasons.

The video begins with a remake of one of the iconic scenes from Flashdance, but instead of the actress it is Geri, she enters as the camera begins being in level with the floor, and then slowly angles upwards from behind upwards to her body as she walks into the room which is very quiet. When she stops, the camera angle also does, halfway through her body, focusing on her tiger tattoo which can represent connotations of Geri being a fierce fighter who will not give up until she achieves what she wants. Her costume is similar to the original, and she holds a vinyl which was used in the original- which gives an authentic feel to the whole video.

The vinyl starts rolling and Geri begins to dance, and all seems well until  the needle of the player slips and so does Geri, onto the floor, which is very quickly into the video, only a few seconds after she started dancing. The camera, after the fall switches to a reaction shot of the judges, which oddly seem to have a concerned look on their faces, instead of a not caring expression. The camera switches to Gerri and for the first time in the video we see her face when she asks the main judge "can I start again?"  which is linked directly to the video, however, is also to her career and the twists and turns that it took before, and how she is getting a new look and starting again. The centre judge gives an interested/serious expression in a SRS as he puts on some chunky glasses and says allows her to carry on.

When Geri stars to dance again, a few shots that are positioned in the same angles throughout a few parts of the action are shown, one of them being of the judges' feet and seeing Geri in front of them, appearing small. Another type of shots that occur within that time frame are voyeuristic shots of the star's body in close ups, halfway through bending and stretching. After a few seconds of successful dancing, the camera stops showing her body and switches to the judges' faces who are enlightened with surprise of her skill in a reaction two shot. After Geri gains her full confidence and carries on dancing with all of her might, some other dancer boys are seen showing up at the doors and staring at her in an interested expression. After we see this guy's facial expression, the camera quickly switches back to the star and pans up her body as she sings, looking at the judges and moving in a coquettish manner. After a few more shots that follow Geri around the room, the camera switches back to the door  in a medium log shot, where more students begin to gather to see her, all with enlightened faces, fighting for a place near the windows to be able to see Geri dance.




After Geri starts to gain more confidence and dances for a while, the reaction of the judges is seen positive, with a low shot of their feet tapping to the beat, as they loosened up and began to accept the unconventional style of the star's routine. The tapping is also an intertextual reference to Flashdance yet again, which represents acceptance.



A lot of voyeuristic shots of Geri's  body is shown throughout the music video, and there are two main reasons for this: one would be to show everyone her new physique as much as possible (which is also the reason for some of her costumes, such as the more revealing version of Flashdance ) and the other reason would be to appeal and build a relationship with her audience by appealing to some more specific parts of her ta (young males, females who aspire to reach such physique themselves) with those shots.



However, there is more intertextual reference linked to Fame (a 1980 film) when in the video Geri is seen wearing a shirt with the logo of the film. There is also more references to the film as the dancers are dressed in similar costumes as the actors from the film.
When the cast run out into the streets of London, they are captured in tight long shots dancing together which creates a feeling of a community.








How has this research influenced my planning and creativity:

• I could use intertextuality within my own music video
• I could refer to things through costume
• I should change costume a lot throughout my video
• Singing into camera creates a relationship with the audience - I should use it too