Music Theory- Andrew Goodwin

I have decided to study Andrew Goodwin for my theory work and compare his theory to the video "Check up on it" by Beyonce Knowles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_EL_SHI7ig&feature=related

Andrew Goodwin discovered certain factors in music videos such as relationships between the lyrics and visuals, genre-related style and iconography present, voyeurism and multiple close-up shots of the artist. These theories specifically relate with the video i have decided to analyze, especially the point that was made about voyeurism.
First of all, the opening of the video begins with a clip from the movie "The Pink Panther" suggesting the song lyrics relate well with the movie which is why it is the soundtrack. This proves the point about the lyrics relating with the visuals due to this song being a movie soundtrack. A lot of voyeurism is exposed throughout the video when beyonce is dancing and revealing shots of her body in small pieces of clothing whilst performing. This is used to increase the video's attractiveness, particularly to males and will also be using the female body as a major selling point. No intertextuality is used in the video, even though the movie itself is humorous. Frequent close-up shots of Beyonce have been used throughout the video, also relating with Andrew Goodwin's point. These are used so that the artist can represent themselves as a 'celeb' to gain publicity. Throughout the video the mise en scene is mostly pink, including the costumes, the background and the effects at the top and bottom of the screen. This theme specifically relates with the movie "The Pink Panther" to reveal the relationship between her music and visuals(the movie). Because the genre of the song is R&B, it mainly proves Goodwin's points as it is an up to date video which relates with a movie. Andrew Goodwin suggested that music videos lacked visual components which was a symptom of not listening carefully enough. This realtes with this video due to all the shots being mainly performance, attracting the audience to watch it, however, not paying as much attention to the lyrics used. Andrew Goodwin also suggested that "Many artists stress the importance of the vocal in their videos" which corresponds to the close-up shots of Beyonce whilst she peforms the chorus of the song. Goodwin argued that the repitition of a specific lyric or rhyme will make the song more memerable, and therefore increase the sales. The repitition of "check up on it" throughout the song could have also been used to sound catchy and memerable towards the public audience. In conclusion, this video relates well with Goodwins theory as it focuses on many of his main points, especially when he talks about the close up shots and the relationship between a movie and the music video soundtrack.

Our initial Ideas

During lesson time we took notes relating to our conversation. This involved chosing our final song and deciding on the storyline.

Our storyboards (rough sketch)

We have drawn a story board to show our killer shots.

Our Mood board

We have created a mood board to show our shot ideas, locations and mise en scene. We have chosen to do this to show the basic story line of our video. We selected a lot of images involving ghosts, broken hearts, couples and things which represented death. We specifically chose these sort of images to show the audience what our video was going to include and also to start giving our band an image brand which would therefore give us an idea of how we were going to represent ourselves as 'Turbulence'.

Our Pitch (to show our ideas for the video)

Pitch
We created a pitch to show everyone our plan for our media music video. This included our ideas about the chosen song, storyline, characters, camera angles, location and the mise en scene. This helped us organize our group extremely well as we all decided on how we were going to plan out the filming of our video. After chosing the song we thought fitted our theme, which was drum and bass, we then decided on how we were going to structure our video. For example, what we were going to film first.

Deadmau5 featuring Rob Swire - Ghosts N Stuff

I have decided to analyze this video because the music shares a similar genre to our chosen song and the video is also story based.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7ArUgxtlJs



The opening medium shot of the hospital doors immediately attract the audiences attention because they dont know whats about to happen next. The camera zooms slowly into a long shot of the people rushing down the corridor as the song begins. Straight away this reveals the video is story/concept based. Many close up shots of the doctor and patients face are used to reveal the emotions if it were a real story. Many of the shots are fuzzy to represent the ghost theme of the video which links with a lot of the media conventions such as editing techniques which we will also be using in our music video. The mise en scene reveals casual clothing for all the characters apart from the ghost who is wearing a fancy dress costume to resemble a ghost. Deadmau5 is also in costume so that he is easily recognised by the target audience. This video and song would probably aim at a younger audience around the ages of 16-25, particularly people who are interested in Dj'ing and this genre of music which is dance. The club scene seams to involve a lot of free hand angle shots due to the quick shots whichs are used. Everyone is in fancy dress costume to relate with the fact he is dreaming about dressing up as a ghost. This intrigues the audience immediately because these are the sort of things teenagers are interested in these days. The shots used are not as vast in comparison to the other videos i have analyzed, indicating that the video was made to stay with the pace of the song. Many close-ups are used to also relate with Andrew Goodwin's theory, indicating again that its a major audience attraction. When the camera is panning around the characters dancing, it uses editing techniques such as dissolves and fades to show the crowd fading into different shots. The music video is very comedy based and not as serious as the others i have analyzed, suggesting its mostly concept based. This is because performance shots tend to be revealed in songs which contain powerful vocals, however, this song has very little words and repeats itself the whole way through.

Macy Gray- I Try

I have decided to analyze a Macy Gray music video because herself and Nneka are both soul-singer songwriters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsTk2xp0nvY


The camera pedistals upwards in the opening low shot of the building to immediately draw the audiences attention. When the song begins, the camera then zooms in slowly on Macy Gray to expose her singing. This suggests the video is story and performance based due to her singing and acting at the same time throughout the whole of the video. The shot where Macy is in the elevator, the camera pans onto a man and woman to resemble with the lyrics of being lonely. This sort of video would probably aim at a middle aged audience around the ages of 20-35 because Macy Gray is quite a young up to date artist, however, her genre of music is not something teenagers would chose over rock and dance styled music. Unlike the other videos i have analyzed, the editing techniques are not as expeditious and sudden because the genre of music is not dance. This influences our group to use better editing skills sinse our music video will be containing a drum&bass/dance type of song. The colours used in the video are extremely vivid and eye-catching towards the audience, appearing very feminine and 'girly'. Props such as flowers are also used in the video to represent the point of appearing feminine. The medium shot of Macy with the train passing behind her is very efficient, relating her emotions with the song lyrics. Towards the end of the video, the camera pans around Macy and the other male character to reveal the video is telling a story about a relationship. The reverse zoom of the long shot of Macy resembles the song ending and also fading.

The Prodigy - Invaders must die

I have chosen to analyze this video because The Prodigy share a similar music genre with Chase & Status.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bpusvRyyJI


The opening first few shots of the video uses editing techniques such as fades where the shot fades into a plain black background. This could be used to resemble the heavy sounds of drum & bass comming from the beginning of the song. Many of the shots used are close up shots and medium shots of the house and the main character, suggesting the video may be concept based. The frequent shots of the picture of the spider could also indicate the song and video is trying to secrete some sort of message towards the viewing audience. The camera zooms and reverse zooms frequently throughout the video. When the pace of the song increases, the shots begin to speed up also. The camera pedistals up and down the weird looking house to expose the theme of the video, such as the shots of the spider calved in the door. This could also propose that the video is intended to relate to the lyrics. The video is shown in a black and white contrast to give good effects of the outdoor shots, due to the video being filmed outside in the countryside. The mise en scene such as the location and costume suggests the video and song are story and conept based because no performance shots are shown throught the whole of the video. The actor in this video appears to be wearing casual clothes such as a hat and scarf, however, he is also wearing a cast on his arm which could maybe advocate ideas such as war, rebellion and illicit behaviour towards the viewing audience. The long and close shots of the spider being graffitied also suggests rebellion, purposely attracting a younger audience who would be interested in this genre of music. The video involves a lot of jump cuts to increase the speed of the shots. this immediately draws in the audience, giving them an idea of what might happen next. Towards the end of the video, the shots jump rapidly between one and other. In this time, it reveals a shot where colour is used to highlight the sky to maybe resemble his increase in power and determination. At the end of the video, an ariel shot is used of the bollards in the water which is extremely effective upon the viewing audience. The ariel shot then revolves into a reverse zoom, allowing the audience to gain a clearer view. The shot then becomes colour then immediately turns into black. A concept theme was revealed throughout the video due to the persistant image of the spider shown throughout the whole video in different shots and angles.

Chase & Status featuring Kano - Against All odds

Clips from the video are shown above
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHCdYeSDJMk

Once again like their other video, the lighting is extremely dim in the opening of the video. As the song kicks in and begins to take off, the speed of the shots have been made to slow down to relate with the pace of the song. Immediately the video reveals performance shots of Kano singing in a typical club location. The mise en scene of the characters costumes are extremely stereotypical to the 80's and 70's decade such as the large coats, suits and wigs used to fit the theme of the story and song itself. Many close up shots are used to reveal the male characters in the club gambling, however, the editing pace is also slower to emphasise on the song lyrics which relate with the story. Alot of the video is mainly performance based due to many shots of the instruments such as drums and trumpets. By viewing this video, it is obvious it was made on a low budget due to lack of different locations, a storyline and a wider variety of shots. The shots are mainly the same throughout the video such as close-ups, long shots of the performer, over the shoulder shots of the man gambling and point of view shots in the opening of the video. The target audience for this song and video would aim at people around 16-20 due to the dance/electronic genre to the song which mostly magnetizes people of this age. Chase and status have enabled the pace of this song to be faster which is why we have chose to make our video to a remix song.

Chase & Status featuring Plan B - Pieces

Clips from the video are shown above
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MJspL232c8
To view this video paste the link into my youtube box on the left!

I have decided to analyze Chase & Status's remix of other songs. This is called "Pieces" by Plan B featuring Chase & Status. Because they are featuring another artist and it also includes a music video which will inspire me throughout the making of my own. The opening close up shot of the guitar reveals the video is going to be somehow performance based due to the camera panning around the singers face. The camera also pedistals from the microphone to the guitar to expose the close up shots of the instruments used. The lighting used is extremely dark to indicate the song could be serious or a personal view of the artist. When the speed of the song begins to increase, the shots begin to skip from one and other alot faster to give an exciting feel towards the audience. Many point of view shots are used in the scene where they are watching the video tape. This begins to reveal that the video is also concept/story based as well as including performance shots. The promptness of the video begins to multiply as the sound of the remix kicks in. By using faster editing techniques in the video has more chance of attracting a younger audience which this video does because it relys on the beat of the song to resemble the alternating shots. The lighting is enhanced when the shots of the past are used to show the 'good times' in comparison with the darker shots of the girl damaging their house. Many of the camera shots used are free hand to show the story is realistic, drawing a larger variety of the target audience. This type of music video and song would probably aim at an audience around the age of 16-20 mostly because drum & bass/dance music mostly attracts this specific audience. When it skips to the scene of the performer singing, the camera angles are extremely rapid to relate to the story theme of the video which appears to be sex and drugs. The mise en scene used in the video is mostly casual clothes and nothing fancy, relating with the extreme party theme of the video. The quickness of the video relates well with the beat of the song which is what inspires our group.

Analysis of 6 music videos, DVD & CD covers!

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