Pitch

Based on our feedback I think we need to look into the record labels more to see what other artists they produce and their distribution channels to help us in the production of our videos. Furthermore, we need to look into the idea of the female role being a temptress villain type character with the intertextual reference of Adam and Eve story from the bible.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality from AbbyWay

Music Video Theorists

MusicVideoTheorists

The Death of Me (Video Analysis)

The Death of Me by Asking Alexandria

Video Analysis

The song “The Death of Me” is by an English Metal core band. It is the third single on their third studio album entitled “From Death to Destiny”. The single was released in 2013 via Sumerian Records. The song is about the lead singer from the band and his addiction to drugs, so the lyrics is about how he overcame these addictions. In the music video we see a young boy who is tempted by nearly nude women in vending machines, this is supposed to represent how the lead singer, Danny Worsnop, was addicted to drugs from a young age. The drugs presented in this video are heroine, pills, cocaine and alcohol from this, the boy is supposed to choose his destiny and the path to which he should go down.

The video begins with a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson saying “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be”. It has been used in order to suggest to the audience what that song is about and help aid them into seeing the meaning behind the video. It then cuts to a close-up of a boy and it pans as he walks, then it cuts to a long shot of him and another man where short dialogue is exchanged of the boy being tempted to enter the warehouse. This opening sequence is the display of a narrative based video, as it tells the story of how the boy (who is meant to represent a band member) was tempted into these drugs from a young age. A shot using special effects is used at 0:36 in the video, as it displays a sort of superimposition, possibly representing how the viewer should feel under the drug induced haze of the warehouse.

This image then appears after the editing effect. The mise-en-scene of this is very interesting, as it relates to the context of the video, but we can also see the genre of the music straight away is rock. We can see the genre from the use of black and red colours which are typically associated with this genre. Furthermore, the genre can be seen in the use of low-key lighting to make the middle figure appear intimidating, as certain parts of his face are in shadows, making his facial expression look kind of menacing, as rock artists are seen to be quite dark and intimidating. The frame also fits in with the narrative as the costume of the middle character seems like that of the grim reaper, so it could suggest the boy is tempted by death, which is emphasized by the coffin type props in the background.

After this the video uses a montage of clips of women who represent the drugs the boy is being tempted by. The woman have been sexualised in voyeurism, so the audience is made to see how the boy is attracted to them. In this notion we are seeing the women using Laura Mulvey’s theory of the ‘Male Gaze’ in the notion of looking at them to find them appealing. In order to do these shots the director uses close ups and films areas of the woman’s body which are highly sexualised, for example their breasts and lips. The camera also takes specific detail to the “Drugs” faces to try and draw the audience in by the way that there are looking at the camera in a seductive manner.

The video then cuts to jump cuts of the band as the music starts. These jump cuts feature close-ups of the band playing their expensive looking equipment, implying that they’re a professional and talented band. The noticeable features on the band are their tattoos, the leather and the violent passionate facial expressions, which straight away imply to the audience that this is a Hard rock video as these are the stereo typical features of this genre. As the video cuts between clips of the band it uses special effects of bright lights to give off a strobe light effect, which makes the band seem more menacing as these type of effects are used in horror movies.

As the video moves on it features a parallel viewing of the band performing and of the storyline happening in the background, implying this is a hybrid video between narrative and performance. When the video cuts to the female drugs there is repetition in the use of superimposition to see the effects of such drugs. This repetition on editing is used whenever these women pop up.

The only other shots presented in this video is two shots of the boy and women in order to see how the boy is being tempted into one of these drugs in particular.

The genre of this music (hard rock) is represented through the stereo typical features of rock in the mise-en-scene such as, the costumes of the band and their tattoos. The editing of superimposition also helps to represent the genre of the music, as it relates to drugs, which are commonly associated with rock music. Therefore, the genre is signified through iconography, as the image presented to the audience is what they would expect to see from a typical rock video.

At the end of the video the boy selects his drug and the prop of money falls and burns to represent how much money is wasted on this drug. The other drugs then break out of their boxes in anger, which is a violent action to relate to the genre of the music.

I think the relationship between the music and the visuals is presented in that of the screaming of the lead vocalist is reflected in the editing as there is fast paced cuts and strobe like effects making the video seem quite frantic, which also matches the fast rhythm of instruments. Furthermore, as the pace of the song speeds up and slows down so does the length of the takes, which reflects a relationship between the rhythm and editing of the video.

Throughout the video no intertextual references have been recognised by fans or on the media, which makes this music video appear to be original as it is personal to the lead singer of the band, who at the time was Danny Worsnop.

I think that the video fulfils Andrew Goodwin’s theory as the music video follows the generic expectations of a rock video and creates a link between the lyrics and the visuals, as it describes the temptation of drugs to the young boy and shows this in woman who represent such drugs. In using the women to represent drugs we follow the notion of looking, because the video highlights the sexualised parts of the female body. Furthermore, the music amplifies the visuals as it heightens the frightening atmosphere we, the viewers, are looking into, as explained in the above paragraph. Finally, many close-ups of the band are used in order to promote the artist and cater to the needs of the record label, meaning they’re following this concept of Goodwin’s theory.

DigiPak:

Above I have displayed the front cover of this single as it is part of their digipak. The thing that stands out to me immediately is the band logo in large font at the top of the page, as it helps fans too quickly pick up on who this band is and encourage them to buy into this single. The next thing that the viewers tends to look at is the woman in the vending machine. This suggests that the audience are mainly going to be male viewers as they would be attracted by this image and encouraged to listen to the song. Finally, we see the lead singer heading out of a door with bright lights on the other side, representing the meaning behind the song of how he overcame these drugs. We can identify this genre as rock due to the large use of the colour black, which is a stereotypical colour of rock. Furthermore, the genre is identified in the sexualisation and representation of drugs that come from the nude woman in the vending machine, as these are also actions that are typically associated with the conventions of this genre. 

Moving on (Video Analysis)

Moving On by Asking Alexandria

Video Analysis

The song Moving On is a power ballad by the English Metal core band Asking Alexandria. Asking Alexandria run under Sumerian Records who helped to release this song as the sixth single on the bands third album “From Death to Destiny”, which was released in July 2014. The song is about the band without all the typical rock conventions such as the drugs, sex, partying or script, but it is about how the band are away from home and missing their families, which lead to one of the guitarist (Ben Bruce) stating that the song made him feel vulnerable as it is about their true feelings. To relate to this, the music video displays the band on tour, with between shots of the band reuniting with family and displaying messages such as, “Thinking of you always”.

The video opens with a long shot with a pan movement, which has dark lighting of the guitarist stepping out onto the stage. This could represent the members opening up about their feelings of being on tour. It then cuts to the band members in a long shot walking towards the camera in slow motion with a black and white filter. Here we can see the costumes of the band members display a lot of dark clothing as a conventional colour of a rock video is black. Some of the costumes have cut of sleeves to display the band member’s tattoos who can also be seen to have long hair in order to enhance the rough appearance. The camera then cuts to a close up of the lead singer in order to use match on action editing to cut to the band in concert. The music then matches the visuals as through the long guitar solo there is a few close ups of the guitar being played. In this solo, there is short cut-outs of the bands backstage footage, which all have a black and white filter. This filter implies that the band are not as happy as they appear on the colourful stage, because they are homesick. The location of the backstage atmosphere is quite vacant and open space this could be to amplify the emotions we get from seeing the black and white filter, in contrast to the vibrant atmosphere of the stage location where you can feel the excitement of fans, which helps the audience to feel included in the event as if they’re experiencing this thrill for themselves.

The video uses fades when cutting from one image to another which leaves a short sense of superimposition. From this it is suggested that all band members share the same feeling of home sickness between them, as it kind of displays the band as a unit. There is a tracking long shot of the tour bus on the road with the same black and white filter in order to illustrate the meaning of the lyrics to a further extent, and to demonstrate that tour life is not everything that it is usually seen to be.

At one point the prop of a cigarette is used in order to demonstrate how it is very stressful for the band members, who are expected to withhold a certain image and impress fans at the same time. Furthermore, there is the prop of the cell phone shortly after this in order to imply how it is hard for the band members to get into contact with their loved ones. These feelings can be matched by the behind the scenes facial expressions of the band who look tired like they have given up hope, which helps to relate them with the lyrics when it says “I’ve never felt so hopeless”.

This video strongly relates to the rock genre and its conventions, as the audience is made to see a stereotypical view of their expectations for this genre. First of all, in the costumes there is a lot of black, as rock is expected to have quite dark meanings and emotions. Furthermore, there costumes are torn and damaged to imply the view that rock artists are meant to be rough. This idea of roughness from the band members can be further implied through the props of the cigarette and the alcohol bottle displayed at certain points in the video, as the rock genre is often related to the topics of sex, drugs and alcohol. Finally, I think that the most obvious way that the video can be related to the rock genre is the actual setting of it. Rock music videos are often thought to happen in live settings which would explain the footage of the band in concert. In doing this the band excites their fans as they make them feel involved in the experience, which could promote Asking Alexandria as a band.

The music relates to the visuals as the rough tone of the singers voice shows pure emotion, which relates to the black and white visuals displayed from the band missing their homes and leaves the band looking vulnerable. Therefore, the vulnerability in the raw emotion of the singer’s voice reflects the vulnerability that we can see they feel in the video. Furthermore, the music relates to the visuals as when it is clear that a certain instrument is playing, or when it over powers the other instruments, that instrument appears in the visuals, for example this is shown many times by the superimposition of the guitar when there is a guitar solo. The editing is not fast paced in order to match the rhythm of the music therefore, it cuts every four or eight beats of the drums. Finally, the editing is not too drastic, as a lot of fades are used between shots in order to display the smooth rhythm of the music.

Andrew Godwin’s theory applies strongly to this music video as it includes most of the aspects of this theory. First of all, the music relates strongly to the visuals through matching the instruments and vulnerability with what we see on screen, as explained in the above paragraph. Furthermore, the lyrics match the visuals as the lyrics explain how the band are feeling lonely and homesick while they are on tour. In addition, the music video reflects the genre of the music through the signifiers of the conventions of rock, such as the live performance and the dark clothing and lighting as explained above. Finally, the music video fulfils the needs of the record label through displaying many close-ups of the artist in order to promote them. However, there are parts of the video that do not follow this theory. We cannot identify any intertextual references within the video, which I am confident in as no intertextual references have been identified by their fan base in the comments section on YouTube either. In addition, there is no obvious reference to the notion of looking meaning that the video does not follow this theory completely unless you count the fact that we, as an audience, are looking into the bands life and their feelings of being on tour. This also means that Laura Mulvey’s theory on the Male Gaze is not being followed as there are no females present in the video other than one of the band members girlfriend.

Digipak

The first thing that becomes noticeable when looking at the album cover is the black and red colour scheme as from this the audience can identify the genre as being rock straight away. The writing and font on the cover is the logo of the band, which helps to create convergence and continuity across all of their products, which helps fans of the band to easily recognise that this is one of their products. The girl in the background is an intertextual reference to one of their other music videos, the death of me, which I have analysed previously. This also creates a sense of continuity throughout this album. However, part of this girl is missing with a cracked effect around it, to make it seem as if it has been smashed, this could be to link to the violence associated with the rock genre, or It could relate to the meaning of the song as it seems the heart is missing and could relate to the saying “home is where the heart is”, so this could suggest how the band is missing home. 

Dancing on Nails (Video Analysis)

Dancing on Nails (We Are Harlot)

Video Analysis

The song Dancing on Nails, by We Are Harlot an American hard rock super group formed by the lead singer, Danny Worsnop formerly from the band Asking Alexandria, who work under the record label Roadrunner records. This song was the second single of their self-titled debut album released in 2015 and presents the band’s first music video. The whole album combines various music elements into their songs but seems to revolve around one subject, as the lead singer said “the whole album is basically about sex!”, the singers passion for this came from the love of his new relationship.

The first 22 seconds of the video consist of the music video consists of a montage of images including close –ups and longshots of the equipment as the band sets up and how the band play their instruments. The angles are mainly straight, however they use a high angle on the drummer to display more of his instrument. These shots are very quick so there is no obvious camera movement, but there is a slight pan in the long shot.

During this montage they use clean cuts and invisible edits due to the fast pace of the shots, however between one or two of the transitions they use a bright flash of light to give off a strobe lighting effect. Within these 22 seconds we are able to see most of the mise-en-scene of the video. The video is mainly located in a large hall, so that we can see the band and all their instruments. There is low-key lighting in this scene as the light sources are artificial, such as the chandeliers and the studio lights in the background. This type of lighting makes the band look intimidating, which fits in with the genre of the music, as stereotypical rock bands are thought to be quite intimidating. This is furthered through the use of a black and white filter, as it makes the band seem cold, as these colours do not allow the audience to connect with the band to some extent. The costumes of the band consist of boots, leather jackets and jeans mainly making them look rough, which is emphasised by the bands hair styles. However, the lead singer wears a blazer which gives off the impression of sophistication, contradicting the stereo typical view of a Hard Rock band. During this montage we see most of the facial expressions of the band in close-ups, this helps us to see the passion of the lead singer and how the rest of the band are fun yet edgy, in essence through close-ups we are able to see the personality of the band members. The main props in the video are the bands expensive equipment and instruments, which creates the impression that they’re a professional band who are very talented which is presented in the way they use these props. The main colour presented in this video is black as it is dark but it is also a stereotypical feature of the genre which is rock, so by using this colour viewers are quickly able to recognise the genre of the video.

A relationship is presented between the music and the visual as the dark, dirty studio atmosphere amplifies the rough sounding effect we get through the singers voice. Furthermore, the edits are taken to match the music as they cut at every other beat of the first instrument that plays in the song. In addition, at the start of every chorus they cut to a close up of the drummer, as there is a strong drum beat, this then switches to a long shot of the band, this technique creates a strong link between the visuals and the music, because there is repetition of similar images at the beginning of each chorus.

These mise-en-scene features and shot types carry on throughout the rest of the video, however slower paced edits are used, as the pace of the music slows down slightly. In doing this we are able to see more camera movements in the band shots, such as when they zoom into the lead singer, or when they reverse zoom on long shots of the band. During the video, short clips of a woman dancing blending into the wall are displayed which give off the impression of a concept based video meaning this is a hybrid between concept and performance.

The song is about how a woman makes a man feel like he is on edge through temptation, therefore there is a dominant ideology presented in the lyrics that woman are there as a type of sexualised object or man’s possession, so we are made to see them in voyeurism. This ideology of women being sexualised has been portrayed in the concept of the woman blending into the wall dancing, as it suggests the woman is there, but not physically as if the man can’t get to her. We are made to see the sexualisation of the female body in voyeurism as the camera does close-up shots of areas of the woman’s body, such as her breasts, which are seen to be highly sexualised. Through using this ideology the video follows Laura Mullvey’s theory of the “Male Gaze”, as we, the audience, are put in a position where we are meant to be tempted by her body, in order to relate the lyrics to the visuals.

The Genre of this music is hard rock. Typically, this genre is stereo typed to be quite rough, so people expect to see tattoos, piercings, messy clothes, dark colours and possibly violence. Therefore, the video uses Iconography through following some of these stereotypes in the colour black, the leather jacket and the scruffy appearance of the band members. This idea is furthered by the strong actions of the way the band members use their instruments, making the video appear quite violent as their muscles seem to be quite tense i.e. in the way the lead singers face can display veins, which imposes the idea of passion within the video.

This video only partially follows Andrew Goodwin’s music video theory. This is because it fulfils the typical genre expectations and displays the looking theory through the male gaze as explained earlier. However, there is no link specifically between the lyrics and the video, because this is mainly a performance based video. Furthermore, the video does not display any intertextual references, which opposes the theory, I am confident in this idea as no references have been found by their fans on the website YouTube, when they discuss the video in the comments section. In contrast, it does follow the theory as it uses many close-ups of the artist in order to promote them, which follows the needs of the record label that We Are Harlot belongs to. Therefore, this video is limited in the way that it applies Goodwin’s theory as it uses some of the concepts, but not all of them.

Digipak:

Above I have displayed the front cover of their album as it is part of their digipak. The cover uses dark colours in the background with many patterns, giving off the impression off tattoos or graffiti, in order to be able to associate this band with rock. The symbol around the band logo appears like a car logo or a sunset, as this is a new band it could sugget an end to a previous era for the lead singer this may be the previous band he was in, however it also seems to represent a journey. The fact the album is self-titled allows promotion of the band and continuity through their products, which helps to settle the idea of the new band to their growing fan base, as we can see in youtube comments that fans are already preffering Danny’s new band to his old one. Finally, the mustard yellow colour of the logo seems strange, as it appears to juxtapose the rock genre, because yellow is seen as a happy colour, however as it is a dull yellow it gives a retro impression which kind of suits the tone of voice of the lead vocalist.

Categories of Music videos

Copyright letter to Record Label

Music Video Timetable (brief)

Here is a brief timetable of how we plan to time the sections of our music video, this will become more in detail as the project goes along:

Music Video Timetable

Total: 14 weeks

Research and Planning: 26th October 

Drafts Video: 19th November
Final Video (including drafts): 22nd November
Ancilleries planning: 22nd November
Ancilleries draft and final: 22nd November
Evaluation includes drafts:  16^th December