Feedback

John, you have made very good progress so far with your group production. I am particularly impressed with your editing of the vox pops. Your research and planning is up to date and you should now maintain a regular / weekly running commentary of the production work.
Targets: 1) begin working on the ancillary tasks
2) use peer and self assessment to make any revisions to your group's music video.

Props and Equipment

Untitled Presentation

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Photoshoot Pictures

Series of photo shoot images for ancillary tasks

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Shooting Schedule

Monday 1st November - Shooting the Club Scene

Tuesday 2nd November - Tri-caster

Saturday 6th November - London Scenes

Thursday 18th November - Tri-caster

Saturday 20th November - Bedroom Scenes

Tuesday 23rd November - Tri-caster

Friday 3rd December - More London Scenes

Saturday 4th December - Scenes of couple together

Feedback

John, you have made ecxcellent use of multi media in the presentation of your group's research and planning work - well done! I am happy to see that you are up to date with all aspects of this work. You now just need to upload your vox pops.

Possible Locations for Filming

Wembley Arena (Night - Fountain Area) - This will be one of the scenes used for a romantic meeting with the main characters. The colours of the fountains can be used to connote the passion and connection of the relationship.




South Bank (Night) - A scene where performance and narrative is combine. The main male performer is dancing to the female performer to try and get her to go out with him.





The London Eye - A low angle shot like this would provide another interesting romantic scene perfect for the narravtive parts.










Near the Thames (maybe even on the boat) - A couple of shots here to really illustrate the romance between the couple.






Drama Room - For several party scenes. We'll be working we the lighting to make it look really authentic and realistic of a party scene.

MPA Room - We're going to be using this room to shoot the performance shots of the video. The dancers will be filmed infront of the green screen and the background will be changed to suit our preferences.

Locations

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Photos of Performers

Tara - Dancer/Choreographer/Performer



Sarai - Main Female Performer




















Otis - Performer/Dancer













Jamal - Main male lead/Performer/Dancer

History of Music Career: Queens of the Stone Age

" Queens of the Stone Age developed a style of riff-oriented, heavy music. Their sound has since evolved to incorporate a variety of different styles and influences, including working with ZZ Top member Billy Gibbons and steady contributor Mark Lanegan, both of whom have contributed influences from genres such as blues and grunge. The band began with Josh Homme in 1996. The band's first release was Gamma Ray, a two-track EP featuring the songs "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" released in January 1996. The band's first live appearance was probably November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington. In December of the same year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which was the first official release by the band under the name Queens of the Stone Age. The band released their self-titled debut, Queens of the Stone Age (1998) on Loose Groove records. Songs for the Deaf was a critical and commercial success and its popularity peaked when the album reached gold status in 2003, with sales peaking at over 900,000 copies. The singles "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" became hits on radio and MTV. "No One Knows" received heavy rotation on music video channels culminating in a nomination for the MTV2 Award at 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. At the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, "Go With The Flow" won Best Special Effects and was nominated for Best Art Direction."



Music video by Queens Of The Stone Age performing The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret. (C) 2000 Interscope Records


Their first music video "The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret" is a combination performance/concept/narrative music video. The dark atmopshere of music combined with seedy sexual themes (sleazy motel) and projected performances leads to a very ambiguous narrative shrouded in mystery (Highlighted in the chorus). Performance/lyrical-wise suggesting that this sort of act (sex in a motel is something best kept behind closed doors with possible links to prostitution.





Music video by Queens Of The Stone Age performing No One Knows. (C) 2002 Interscope Geffen (A&M) Records A Division of UMG Recordings Inc. Directed by Dean Karr and Michel Gondry


It was the first single and second track from their third album, Songs for the Deaf, and was released on November 26, 2002. "No One Knows" was a chart success, becoming the band's only single to top the US Modern Rock charts. Sticking to their performance/narratve routes the video is split into two, your general performance filmed on tri-caster and a narrative played out in the woods. They seem to be branching off their tradtional mysteriously atmospheric music videos to a more dark comedy style. I call it "Dark comedy" because the general narrative is funny but the song is a sort of juxtapostion. The audience would laugh as much as they would if the song was up-beat or more use of lighter, attractive colours.





Music video by Queens Of The Stone Age performing Go With The Flow. (C) 2002 Interscope Geffen (A&M) Records A Division of UMG Recordings Inc


This is where we see the band really explore with their style now. Their song - more heavy and up-beat, their video - fast paced. Probably now they want to be labelled a one style band and are showing off what they're capable of. The video shows sexual themes such as a metaphor of two cars colliding with each other; symbolizing intercourse and an image of a trident showing some erotic attributes. Filmed entirely in greenscreen/tri-caster the video is now labelled a performance/concept with more emphasis on the concept of sex which links to their first video "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret"





Music video by Queens Of The Stone Age performing Make It Wit Chu. (C) 2007 Interscope Records - Directed by Rio Hackford


Finally, their most recent music video "Make It Wit Chu" which is a mixture of both performance and narrative. The video begins with Joshua Homme driving to Rancho De La Luna and the band setting up their musical instruments. They then start to perform the song. The video shows footage of the band performing along with shots of several couples making out and talking. The band appear to be performing for the couples. The sex theme arises again with the band suggesting they are influeced on sexual suggestives. The video/song is more light-hearted and warm (yellow/golden tint to the video, slower tempo) than the bands previous work implying they are branching off from their traditional dark/heavy rock for and opting for a more mellow style. This is perhaps how they recieved their dubbed genre of desert rock, psychedelic rock or stoner rock for being a bit more "out there" than most rock bands.

Themes

Post-Modernism will be shown in our music video through a movie style opening. Also style over content which is a convention of post-modernist music videos would be shown through the extra effects which will be incorporated in the music video such as stop motion and black and white effects.

Feminism/Male gaze would be incorporated in out music video through the attractive female character in this music video who is the sexual interest of the male character in this video.

Love is shown through the attraction between the male and female character in this music video and will be reinforced by the fact that the female character would always wear red which has connotations of lust and passion

Music Channels

The Box channel is well-known for its First Play feature, where many videos often make their UK or world premiere. This is the channel we our video to first broadcast. If it can make as much of an impact on this channel then we can start taking offers from other music channels.

Kiss would be the first music channel that comes to mind when decideding who would broadcast our music video. It's fun, it's sassy and caters to the strong R&B and Hip-Hop fans. The music they broadcast is mainstream and top of the charts. I believe Rite on Time is the kind of song to instantly become a hit on charts (sort of) and because of it's Hip-Hop style it would fit perfectly on this channel. Not to mention Kiss has a radio station too. Broadcasting on both TV and radio is a sure fire way to get the song popular.


MTV Base is another prefect example of a music channel willing to broadcast our video. This channel is very similar to KISS in that it mainly broadcasts R&B and Hip-Hop titles which is where our music video would fit in perfectly. It's 24-hour too meaning we can get playing round the clock, get it into people's heads and spreading the word of mouth around.

Eventually, the music video will spread to a more mainstream audience and that's when we fully make use of it's popularity. Music videos that broadcast on this channel are the most listened to, the most downloaded, the most talked about. To get our music video on here would make it an instant hit.

4MUSIC the new channel from Channel 4. Because it is related to Channel 4 you can imagine the type of music and programs they broadcast would generally be targetted at a young audience, predominantly 16-24 which is perfect because that is what our songs target audience is. This is the channel we would want to broadcast if we have any hope of targetting our main audience and hooking them in.


FLAVA is again another perfect music channel to broadcast our music video. It's incredibly similar to KISS and MTV Base and therefore fans of R&B and Hip-Hop will most likely visit all three of these channels a lot just like people who like alternative visit Kerrang! and Scuzz! because those share similar a genre. People will see the video a lot more until they can't avoid it and eventually it gets stuck in their heads and they have to like it.

VoxPox

1) What do expect to see in a Hip-Hop/R&B music video?

2) Would you prefer to watch to a narrative/ concept/ performance based music video?

3) What do you like most about our chosen song and why?

4) What ideas do you think will work well with this song in a music video?

The Storyboard

The StoryBoard

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Chosen Song - 'Rite on Time' by Singnature

Info on Singnature

"Born and based in Rochester, NY, SINGNATURE is not your average male vocalist group. The band consists of Lamar aka L-STARZZ, Trent aka SHAKEZ, Lawerence aka LAW and professional boxer Willie Monroe, Jr aka CHAMP. SINGNATURE has performed at many venues, festivals, major shows, and concerts. They have even opened for popular artist such as Trey Songs, Tank, Ginuwine, Luducris, and many more."

My group and I have chosen to go for an R&B song for our media production. We collectively decided to go for this song as we can envision a strong narrative for this song with performance aspects. We aim to subvert the generic conventions associated with R&B videos but still have elements of a traditional Hip/Hop, R&B music videos.




INTRO:
Be right on time
Be right on time
I’m right on time

CHORUS:
Since I laid eyes on you I don’t know what to do
‘Cos baby girl you're the truth sitting next to you
If it's ok with you can I come on through?
Promise I’ll be there in a few
And I’ll be right on time (Be right on time)
Time (Be right on time) ‘Cos baby you're so fine (I’m right on time)

VERSE:
Shawty talk to me
Would you like it baby what’s your name?
'Cos for some reason I can’t stop thinking 'bout your frame
From your eyes, to your lips, to your thighs, your so damn fly
Wanna know you If it’s possible lay you down
Can I show you how I feel about you deep inside
How I feel real deep inside
You don’t have to be shy

CHORUS

VERSE 2:
Clocks ticking, so tell me what its gonna be
If you listen, I guarantee your gonna come home with me
Guarantee you'll come home with me girl you'll see
How I put it down and I promise you won't wanna leave
Girl I’ll make a sound I'm-a give you everything you need
Everything you need is with me
So get back with me

CHORUS

BRIDGE:
Now do you think , I can be the one for you
I promise I will never make you sad
I refuse, refuse to be the fool to let you go on by
And not try and to get at you (Oh)
‘Cos you wanna be with me
I will be guarantee, girl you’re so peng to see
That I need your love, and make you my boo
Anything that you ask for I’ll do, BABY!
Ooohh, ooohh oh oh

CHORUS:
Since I laid eyes on you, I don’t know what to do,
'Cos baby girl you're the truth sitting next to you
If it's ok with you can I come on through?
Promise I’ll be there in a few
And I’ll be right on time (Be right on time)
Time (Be right on time)
'Cos baby you're so fine (I’m right on time)

Sha-Sha-Shawty-Sha-Shawty I be right on time…

Lyric analysis for singnature

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Useful Camera/Editing Techniques

CAMERA TECHNIQUES

• Framing - where people, props etc are placed within the frame (the composition)
• Angles - high angle (birds eye view)- shot from above
• Aerial shot- filmed from a helicopter
• Low angle - filmed from below
• Movement Pan/panning - camera moves on a pivot left/right
• Tilt - Camera moves up or down on its pivot
• Track/tracking - shot attached to moving object to follow the action
• Zoom - camera moves in/out on an object
• Short Take - Shot lasts for a short time
• Long Take - Shot lasts for a long time

EDITING TECHNIQUES

• Quick cuts - Shot moves rapidly from one frame/ shot to the next
• Fade (fade to black)- One shot fades away to black and the next shot fades in
• Dissolve - One shot fades out as the next shot simultaneously fades in
• Wipe - A shot is literally wiped off the screen by another
• Slow motion - A sequence is slowed down
• Fast motion - A sequence is sped up
• Stop Motion - A series of still shots or drawings are taken with a still camera and mixed into a moving image program to create a digital animation sequence

Production Skills

• Reliable performance (Convincing performers)
• Good directorial skills (Assertive)
• Knowing and understanding the wants and expectations of the audience
• Time management (having a detailed plan)
• Thorough planning (Organisation)
• Good research
• Enthusiasm and motivation
• Camera skills (i.e. no shaky camera)
• Editing skills (e.g. Lip-syncing)
• Using suitable settings
• Utilising everyone’s skills
• Room for debate
• Being objective

Feedback

John, your textual analysis pieces are both detailed and interesting. Well done for meeting the deadline on this work. You should now work towards uploading your additional evidence of research and planning work i.e. work around your chosen track, storyboard sections etc.

Textual Analysis - "Golden" by Jill Scott

The video immediately starts with a smile from the singer in close up. Along with the light piano playing in the background this instantly indicates to the viewer that this video and song is going to be light hearted and easy to listen to (easy listening). The close up slowly cuts to a mid shot of Jill’s whole body revealing her costume to be entirely white. Of course white connotes purity implying her song has no negativety involved, it’s just pure soul. One could link her costume to post-feminist views as she is a female singer but isn’t going about staying true to your tradtional R&B female singer i.e. her clothes being too revealing and therefore you could say she is breaking the stereotype as she isn’t your usual R&B singer she’s different, she has class as white can also be seen to connote professionalism.

The camera again cuts to long shot of her singing in the middle. This shot now reveals the location of where she was singing. She seems to be on a busy street with loads of people rushing to get to work. She is the most visual on screen due to her costume and her basically being in the middle. This shot suggests that she isn’t letting the seriousness and harsh reality of life get to her. (e.g. 9 to 5). This could inevitably link to the lyrics as she is “taking my freedom, putting it in my car, wherever I choose to go”. She’s basically saying she’s going to ‘go to with the flow’ and let life take it’s course and not be bound by work and stress. A car is the prop she would probably use to escape that stress. Stop Motion is used here as a technique to make the people around Jill seem robotic; almost as if they're following their life like a schedule day in day out, never being able to breach this vicious cycle. They're all wearing black to further make Jill seem apart from the crowd, different, her own self not a ‘robotic drone’.

We cut to a low angle shot of Jill riding her bike. The shot makes the buildings around Jill seem to tower over her almost representing the authority in society trying to bring her down. Yet we zoom to a close up and she’s wearing a brigh yellow jacket with a matching yellow flower in her hair. We get a variety of close up shots her, some to her side, some in front of her. At some points she’s not even looking ahead suggesting she’s not bound by one path in life and she want’s to broaden her horizens. Of course her yellow jacket is a reference to song. Yellow or Gold can instantly connote happiness and glee which is how she appears while she is riding her bike. Also her bike is major clue to her happiness. Bikes are often identifyed with being carefree. One memory everyone has with a bike is learning to ride it for the first time which is probabaly how she feels everytime she rides it.

While riding her bike, we get a brief shot reverse shot with a little girl and Jill looking at the girl. The girl is playing what appears to be Lego or some kind of board game. She herself is wearing a very bright orange shirt also further referencing the song title. The little girl’s scene is filmed entirely in stop motion. This time the stop motioning is very rapid and not entirely robotic. This is probably to link with the little girl’s ‘bubbly’ attitude after seeing Jill on her bike and sticking her tongue out. A shot reverse shot is displayed of both of them sticking tongues out at each other. Then a zoom in occurs on the little girl’s lego with a CG image of a Jills faces animating in lego. This may be a refence to 70’s music as the colours used in the animation are very bright and ‘groovy’. 70’s music generally identified with these kinds of colours suggesting Jill gets inspiration from 70’s disco because she believes those songs made her happy.




We enter verse two with another stop motion scene with Jill and her mother or aunt looking at a photo album of Jill’s childhood. Sharing memories with a loved is often associated with good feelings and laughter – ‘remembering the good times’. We get images of her childhood to her teens all the way up to her early adulthood. I believe Jill has done this specifically as a way of interacting and inviting the audience into her life. She wants the audience to be able to relate to her on a comfortable level which is identifyable with most familes in society. After looking at the album we get a close up shot of Jill’s mum or aunt kissing her on the cheek to probably thank her for coming. Maybe she understands that not many children see their parents once they’re all grown up and left the home so after seeing this scene and listening to this song she wants to appeal to those sorts of people to change their ways and make their family smile once in a while instead of shutting them off.


The chorus begins again with Jill on her bike in a low angle shot waving at someone off screen. Again she isn’t not conforming to one path by only looking ahead but branching herself and giving herself more freedom. Near the end of the chorus, Jill’s bike riding scene finally becomes stop motion. Here we are greated with a low angle shot of Jill finally letting go of the handle bars and continuing to ride. The scene doesn’t show Jill riding forward but almost on the spot as if she was trying to balance. The spreading of arms suggests breaking free of constriction, the handle bars representing that constriction holding her back and she wants to break free of that. The technique with the stop motion by making her appear to be balancing of the spot is sort of refence to those tight rope walkers. They’re professional, they know they won’t fall. But the audience has that sense of distress and tension – “is he going to fall? Isn’t he?” and that sense of tension that sense of ‘don’t know know what’s going to happen next’ is another way to truely living your life or her life to the fullest. Never planning, just going forth and doing it not caring about the consequences.

As the chorus continues more stop motion scenes are depicted of various life situations in which people are ‘living their life like it was golden’. The first depicts a couple in an intimate close up. The man whips out a ring obviously indicating he’s asking her to marry him. Various close up shots are used to fully display the expression on her face. The stop motion enhances that as it quickly gets the point across without having to drag out the scene. Just a few shots are used to show her expression, and a few is all you need as you expect she is going to be happy because of the atmosphere of the song.









The next verse begins and we get a low angle shot of a kid getting a box of “Freedom O’s” cereal out of the cupboard. The colours on the box are again bright colours orange, yellow, red etc. to further emphasise the songs nature. Stop motion again is used here to demonstate the kid making the cereal. Cereal or breakfast is always associated with the line ‘the most important meal of the day’. Kids grow up with this line and generally come to love breakfast time making it their most happiest times of the day which could now link to the song.

The third installment in ‘a day in the life of happy people’ portrays a woman (in stop motion) finally finishing work. This is indicated with a close up shot of her looking her watch and a mid shot of her stretching her arms after a long day and with a generally happy expression on her face. She is shown in mid shot picking up her bag and leaving work. And then the screen zooms out seemlessly into a photo of the woman going to a ballet class and the words ‘Never Stop Dreaming’ written across of the bottom of the photo. The line probably suggests that she is living her life the way she wants and not just going home after work. She wants to be something more than your average office worker. Ballet is also associated by being a very elegant dance when you dance, you’re letting yourself go of all the troubles.





Next stop motion scene depicts a boy coming home from school to be greeted by a new bike from his father. A close up of the father hugging and kissing the child indicates how close they are to each other. The video shows the father then teaching the boy how to ride it which is often most associated with father and son gaining a closer bond. The photo image appears on the screen again with the words ‘My son, my heart’ written. The heart connoting love indicating he loves his son.











The next stop motion scene depicts several kids inside a car pretending to drive it. Kids at that age (7,8,9) always seems to look up to their parents and want to be like them. Again a generally happy moment in a childs life.

Jill is shown in the next scene lying on the beach in a high angle shot. And then again in a mid shot with her back to the camera but showing her looking out to sea with the sun setting. The sunset is used to indicate the video coming to an end. Generally sunsets are associated with warmth and beauty. People generally lose themselves when watching the sunset again. The sun is sorce for letting oneself go.

To conclude, Jill doesn't let herself conform to the convention of female R&B singers. She sort of let's the music sell her, not her image which is generally what most R&B females do - sell themselves to the record company. 'To get more money, you gotta be more sexy'. She subverts that making her a very independant and strong role model for females everywhere. The song is also used to further broadcast her message of basically 'living your life to its fullest and not letting life get you down' and I think this is clearly demonstrated in the video.

Well done for the research and planning work you have completed so far John.

Textual Analysis - "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga - Paparazzi (Official Music Video)

Lady Gaga | MySpace Video
Released July 5, 2009
Directed by Jonas Åkerlund

The music video opens with no music at all. Instead it is sort of reminiscent of a classic Hollywood film opening sequence, like Casablanca or even Loony Toons. This can be seen as an example of pastiche or homage because she is imitating those films because she believes they’ve influenced her music and style and is therefore crediting them.
During the opening a slideshow of different images are played on screen. They are basically used to establishing the setting of the video. One low angle shot shows an image of several palm trees with the sun shining behind it and another low angle shot to display a mansion. This therefore suggests this music video was set in Los Angeles; home of Hollywood stars and the famous, iconic street called ‘Sunset Boulevard’.

The video continues to show more close ups and mid shots which contain mise-en-scene such as flowers and chandeliers. This all further suggests the location is Hollywood because Hollywood is the home famous celebrities who are very wealthy and can afford to buy such luxuries. The title finally displays and shows Lady Gaga’s name and the name of the song and who directed it. This implies that the music video is about to begin. The font also plays homage to 1950’s films here. We get several high angle shots of the room. Money on the floor, broken bottles, room in a state. This indicates to the viewer that something bad has happened, most likely a domestic problem because we’re in a bedroom, perhaps a problem over sex and the man got angry. Note how we can here a piano in the backround. This links well with some of the shots we see at the beginning (chandeliers, palm trees) because it’s often stereotyped that the wealthy enjoy classical music.
Don’t forget the ambience of the chirping of birds in the background while the close ups of the mansion are played. The two compliment each other and create a sense of realism. We makes it easier for the audience to understand.

We get our first piece of dialogue now as we see Lady Gaga and her lover on her bed. There is no sining yet, alternatively they are just speaking but they are speaking in Swedish and there are subtitles on the screen which again sparks familiarity with a film. They move to the balcony and start making out. While that is happening we get several clips in and out of their make out scene. For example there are jewels on the table, also theres money with her face on it. Now this may imply that she is narcissistic and slightly drunk with money believing she is so rich she can buy money with her face on it believing she is as important as the early presidents of the USA.

However hidden photographers are taking pictures of them from behind the scenes. Gaga realizes that her boyfriend has set the paparazzi to photograph her and tries to stop him. When it becomes futile, she tries to push him away and ends up smashing him with a wine bottle. The enraged boyfriend throws her over the balcony. She then enters a CGI state where she is simulating falling but instead of showing the ground, it shows spirals in the background. This is wear we can see what she is wearing. A white swimsuit almost. This is conventional of a Lady Gaga music video as you usually expect to her in very revealng clothing. She is shown falling using a birds-eye-view, her arms flailing about. This shot suggests her to be vulnerable and helpless.
Gaga lies at the ground in her own blood as the photographers continue take pictures of her bloody body. Newspapers fly across the screen reading headlines such as “Gaga is over” proclaiming that her career is over. This scene apparently pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo.

Finally the music begins! Gaga is shown getting out of a limousine, being carried by male dancers to a wheelchair. As the dancers spin around her, we are cut in and out of scenes with her alone singing on a grand sofa. She is wearing a rather saucy leather swimsuit, again conventional of style. As she is helped into the house, the carpet is purple instead of red. Purple implies luxury and pleasure. The carpet may suggest she is subvert the stereotype of the typical celebrity and that she is not your ordinary pop star, she is different.
What she wears in as she is getting pulled is rather clever as she looks like she would if she were living in 1950. Note how she opens one glass lens. This could be done to mimic monicles that are often stereotyped with the very wealthy. We get various close ups and mid shots of Gaga and Gaga with the dancers. But instead of an extreme close up of her eyes, we get one of her lips, maybe representing the sexual aspect of her videos, but can also used to reference the 1960’s womens movement where women because more independant and started wearing make up and miniskirts. Films during the time would have reference society at the time and there she is playing homage to that.

In a rather seemless editing technique where we get an extreme close up of Gaga to a zoom out to reveal a new costume with the help of a pair of crutches while wearing a metallic bustier and a matching helmet. She is now joined with more dancers siginifing the performance aspect of the video. She resembles the robot from Star Wars: C3P0 while she is wearing this costume and is therefore also a reference to it. In this costumes she now has broken the distinction between the difference between humans and robots, a binery blurring.

As the chorus begins to end and we enter the bridge to the next verse, these scenes are interspersed with scenes of dead models lying around the mansion. The second verse begins and we contniue with Gaga on the golden couch. During the verse we are continuously bombarded with clips of dead women (some dead in the bath, some even hanging themselves). Lady Gaga is seen making out with three rockers on the golden couch during the line "Loving you is cherry pie". This is apparently a reference to rock band Warrent and their single “Cherry Pie”. In my opinion I believe this was included because Gaga explores the ideas about the sort of crazy situations that people will go though in order to be famous. Most specifically, pornography or murder. This signifys why the man she was kissing wanted her to look at the camera and why she is wearing revealing clothing.

The second chorus begins. Gaga is now wearing a white body suit and a black skirt on her right leg.This may reference lolita style gothic fashion which may link to the dark scenes of death seen in the second verse. The video continues through the intermediate bridge with Gaga wearing a dress made up of film strips and a towering feathered Mohawk headdress. The screen flashes mimicing paparazzi camera. In this costume she seeks to show her vulnerable side. The close up of a dog occasionally pops up during the bridge. This could be interpreted as a “hungry paparazzi”. The paparazzi are animals, beasts that are relentless until they have the truth. Her wearing nothing but film strips suggests her vulnerable to the paparazzi no matter what. Her mohawk on the other could be seen as a simbol of strength as it makes her head look bigger. This may link with the line “Still. Have. Fun” Maybe she is split between think she is better than the press and doesnt care and people like the man at the beginning getting what they want, her real self.

We finally enter that last part of the song. A dissolve from black occurs and fades in with the servant serving the tea on the table. In this part of the song Lady Gaga is seen wearing a yellow jumpsuit and sunglasses with the lens opened out to resemble giant ears. This is an example of intertextuality where it appears as though Lady Gaga is mimicing Minnie Mouse while wearing this. This implies her sweet and playful side. Maybe she is willing to forget what her boyfriend did to her. HOWEVER. The yellow jumpsuit is used to forshadow the boyfriends death as it could be a reference to the Kill Bill films. The boyfriend basically reperesenting Bill. The extreme close up of her black lipstick can also be used to connote death. She stirs poison into her boyfriends drink and licks the spoon she stired it in. This may imply she is so evil, so venomous that even poison won’t stop her.

Time passes after the death of her boyfriend. She’s fleed the scene and forensics are examining the dead body. Lady Gaga is shown being bodyguarded back to her limo with the paparazzi all over her and flying newspapers reading: “She’s back!” and “She’s innocent”!. There is a blurring of fiction occurrance here where the blurring is her getting arrested. She hasn’t really been arrested. But the paparazzi is the reality as she probably goes through that sort of situation everyday. Her being arrested links to 1950’s film as it is black and white. Films didn’t have colour back then. And finally a the video ends just like Looney Toons used to with a circle zooming to show nothing but a black screen. Afterwards credits are shows also typically with 1950s film.

This music video is fully evident that it is post-modern. With references to 1950s film and contemporary features such as the robot suit and the lolita dress. She seeks to attract mainly young audience because of this however entice old audience as they may recognise some of the references within the video.

Post Modernism

MODERNISM

- Modernism is a characteristic of contemporary styles like art, music or literature which seeked to reject traditionally accepted forms and express individual representation. This era began to emerge after the industrial revolution during the late 19th century where we began to see films and scripts being created for the first time. The 50s saw a huge change to lifestyles for woman and children. Woman had more flexibility with their lives instead of just doing chores all the time and teenagers were having more fun going to dinner, dances and stuff like that.

POST-MODERNISM

- In Post Modernism on the other hand, interpretation is everything; reality only comes into being through our interpretations of what the world means to us individually. Therefore there becomes a sort of blurring on reality and fiction. We watch something on TV, we know it's completely fake but we like it because it's a complete change to what we're used to in reality.

Conventions of Post Modernism include:

Intertextuality - one media text referring to another e.g. Michael Jackson's Thriller containing werewolves and other scary things that were a credit to monsters movies back in the 80s.

Parody - Mocking something in an original way e.g. Alien Ant Farm's "Movies" where they mock 3D and several films that came out during the 80's and 90's like Ghostbusters or Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, the Karate Kid and Edward Scissorhands.

Pastiche - A work of art that imitates the style of another artist or period. E.g. Weird Al Yankovic's "White and Nerdy" imitating Chamillionairie's "Ridin'".

Bricolage - Mixing up and using different genres and styles. e.g. "Walk This Way" which was originally an Aerosmith song but Aerosmith decided to do a compilation with Run DMC to create a mixture of Rap and Heavy Metal which was unheard of at the time but truly revolutionised the genre bringing two completely different audiences together.

Homage - Imitation from a respectful standpoint. E.g. Michael Jackson's "Black or White" imitating Back to the Future and other films.

Textual Analysis - "Inner City Life" by Goldie

The beginning of the video enters with serveral establishing shots of the setting of this video. It shows councils flats and the long running stereotype with council flats is that they are considered poor areas. So already it's showing us that the "inner city life" isn't going to be a very good one.
The filter used on the camera throughout the majority of the music video has a golden tint to it. This could be used to signify that it is one of the artists': Goldie's music video. However it can also be seen to subvert the previous images of council flats. Gold is a colour that connotes wealth yet council flats aren't a wealthy area.

The singer is finally revealed as she is dissolved in quite a unique manner. She opens her hands has she is being transitioned from the previous scene almost as if she has direct influence on the video somehow. Also the transitioning seems to be mostly dissolves and fades to match with the music's calm feeling at this point in the video.
It then dissolves again to what appears to be a single mother washing the dishes then another close up of a BT bill. This clip implies she is struggling as we can only see her and the children we instantly believe that she is a single parent dealing with two kids, housework and the bills. Further implying that this "inner city life" isn't all it's cracked up to be.

We then recieve a High angle shot of a trolly to the ground and the singer is holding her note on the word 'free' as the trolly is falling. This could suggest suicidal thoughts are going through the single mum's head. She wants to be free of this harsh life.
It dissolves again to a close up of a young teen wearing a hoodie. Hoodies connote gang culture suggesting that this council estate is home to some criminal gangs because of this area being poor they have to resort to crime to live.

You get serveral low angle shots of the council estates within this opening sequence. This could suggest that this "life" is too big for them, that they can't handle the "pressure" of it.

Dissolve to another clip and you get some kids playing what appears to be football or basketball. It is a common fact that council estates do not allow ball games in the area for fear of damage to parked cars or windows, but these kids are doing it anyway. This suggests that these kids have no respect for the rules and are being rebellious, making life even harder to live in this estate.
The camera then tilts upwards to a high angle shot of the kids playing implying that they are vulnerable, vulnerable to the hard life that awaits them.

Now next we have a rather perculier shot as we see someone parked in a BMW. BMWs are generally expensive cars so to see one in the video after all the scenes before sort of subverts everything about this estate and the hegemonic control. But then it changes. The camera keeps tilting until we've done a full 180 degree and now looking at the car and what the car is looking at upside down. This may further emphasise that this car is just a dream of what the people in the estate could have but can't and therefore turns upside down. Or it could imply that something strange is happening or about to happen. Maybe revealing the true nature of this "inner city".

The colour scheme rapidly changes and is now a dark, purpley colour. This could be the "true nature" of the inner city life. The setting has now changed to a club. Clubbing usually suggests drinking and/or drug taking i.e. The true nature of the inner city life finally shown which in turn maintains the status quo if you will. When it appears to us as an audience seeing a close up of serveral people passing on something discreetly, it instantly suggests drug dealing, HOWEVER what appears to be drugs is ACTUALLY a CD or a mix tape.
The video is now starting to throw in a lot of subversions now, where the stereotype was drug dealing within the inner city life of crime, we're getting a completely different perspective. This "CD dealing" may imply that these people in the inner city are trying break free of the stereotypes of the inner city life and are trying to make something of themselves. By selling this CD they wanted to make money, become successful and perhaps turn that dream of a BMW into a reality. However they feel they can only do it in a discreet way because the pressures of the inner city life won't allow them to succeed.

The camera is spinning to mimic the DJ spinning the disc, then we get another dissolve (with the camera still spinning) of the single mum again, with the golden tint making its comeback. The camera spinning with the mum in frama may suggest her feelings of stress. The camera is also in a high angle shot exposing her vulnerability. The room is also a mess suggesting she can't handle cleaning up because she's handling too many things at once without her husband there to help her. This is further established in a clip with her washing the dishes and wiping her forehead. It's hard work and she is struggling alone.

To another dissolve and we get to see biker riding past the screen, however there appears to be railings in the shot covering up most of the scene. This could be used on purpose to suggest a prison lifestyle. That kids from this neighbourhood are going inevitably end up in prison after resortng to crime because of the harsh life withn the inner city.

The singer is again dissolved into the video by her opening her arms. This could not imply she is their change, their salvation. She is opening herself up to them.

The camera dissolves to the single mum a lot but this time she is with someone, the ex husband. and they're both sleeping together. Does this mean he has returned or is this just the woman's dream fabricated on screen of them being together again?

A dissolve once more leads us to a car on fire with the purple filter on the camera again. This could the suggest car theft in the neighbourhood and criminals are trying to torch the car for evidence. Further emphasising the darkness of the inner city life.

The words "life" and "pressure" are repeated now as we get closer to the end of the video. This part seems to tie all the clips together in a little montage to truely emphasise the harshness of the inner city life.
A small is shown to us of the woman without the husband again. This time, her child is dissolved in and out sleeping next to her. Then her ex husband is dissolved in and begins to have sex with her, but she's too tired. This could imply why they split up, the husband was using her for sex.

Finally, the woman and a guy in a hood, each in their own filters (woman in gold, hoodie guy in purple) start to burn something. This to me suggests that they are both tired of the inner city pressure and want to get rid of it or get away from. In turn, tying the two filtered scenes together.
Marxists would suggests that some of the messages in this video were realistic (council house, hoodies, single parents) so some audience could relate to it. The target audience being young people because they can relate and also, this seems like their kind of music (drum and bass).

The Marxist Approach

Karl Marx was the founder of the Marxist Theory. He believed that media messages should be used for good and not evil. The evil being the "dominant ideology", which can have quite a dangerous influence on the masses.

The Dominant Ideology can be described as ideological forces that pre-determine how our society should function. Marxists believe that powerful insititutions subtly control how we, the masses, conduct our lives within society. Dominant institutions include; the Press/Media, the internet, television, the music industry, tabloids, or abuse or certain social groups i.e. muslims and young people.

Marxists also believe that the media plays a significant in controlling the masses and some would say as an institution it has greater influence on society than religion, politics and the families (nature over nurture). This supposed subtle dominance with which control the masses is also known as hegemonic control.

Hegemony is an ideological concept which was first introduced by Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci. He believed that the media message culd perform a subtle indoctrination, influecing the manner in the which society viewed the world until the message becomes 'common sense', unchallenged by the masses. Hegemonic control is an acceptance of the 'status quo'.
Examples may include how the media portrays football as a huge sport and broadcasts more so than any other sport. This suggest it is a popular sport and the media is feeding the masses what they want.
Michael Moore the creator of such documentaries as Bowling for Columbine or Fahrenheit 9/11 can be seen to challenge hegemony as he questions certain conspiracies not just feeding the masses a bunch of lies to cover anything up.

Gender Representation

Feminsm - Equal opportunities for women.

Post-Feminsm - Feminism has now been achieved. Women want to surpass men. Women are adopting "the female gaze" (Women purposely dress themselves erotically for men to stare at them.)

Textual Analysis of Britney Spears - "Toxic" music video relating it to feminist/post-feminist themes.



Feminist

- Confirms female styles.
- Capitalises on her sexuality to "cash in".
- Provacative - inappropriate for young audiences.
- "Chameleon effect": She has to use her image rather than her talent.
- Aggressively shoves the man into the bathroom and starts making out with him. He looks fairly ordinary, he's the not the most attractive man. This probably suggests that Britney will do anything to get her music out.
- There is strong media demand for Female pop stars to look as sexual as ever.
- This may reveal Britney's low self esteem (Bowing down to peer pressure) which in turn embaresses and demeans herself for money.
- Sex sells. The industry has won, Britney can't convey her own image and be individual.
- The Female Gaze: There are half naked men in the video. The video isn't just for men to stare at Britne.

Post-Feminism

- Dressed as conventional womenss work clothes (The Air Hostess). This subverts the stereotype of conventional air hostess; i.e. Air hostess are supposed to be polite and do welcoming and appropriate. Britney however is dress more provacatively (Mini Skirt, clevage showing, rubbing the man's crotch area)
- Aggressively shoves the man into the bathroom and starts making out with him. He looks fairly ordinary, he's the not the most attractive man. She then takes off his mask to reveal a more attractive man. This probably suggests that this music video isn't just for men to stare at Britney; it incorporates the female gaze and allows women to stare at the attractive men in the video (the guy on the bike).
- Has a sparkling naked costume in one of the scenes. Contrasts with other scenes. She looks more vunerable in this clip. Maybe she showing a side of her which is a conventional female image.
- She has several differenct costume changes in this music video. One recognisable one to note would be the one where hair is red and she is wearing a tight leather suit. One could compare to either Catwomen, independant, powerful superheroine or a Dominatrix, a dominant, strong, merciless women who gets what she wants. Again relating to her being in control of the men instead of the other way around.
- As she dances in this costume, the effect of fire is placed around her. This fire is metaphor for her personality, that she is sexy and hot. The fire connotes passion.
- She is then kissing another man on a bed, she is on top implying that she is control of the sex.

Textual Analysis - Three Days Grace - "Never Too Late"

Release: June 5, 2007, October 23, 2007 (re-release)
Directed by Michael Maxxis

The video begins with a little girl walking over to her parents. They all smile and hold hands. They begin to dance in a circle, still holding hands. The faces are visible and there is a focus on the parents' eyes looking at their daughter. The music is acoustic at this point. All of these things are meant to represent a happy family.


The band playing are wearing your typical style of clothes for a rock video: Black hair, black clothes. It's conventional because this mimics what teenagers usually wear (goth/emo) as their main target audience are teenagers.
Also keeping to the tradition are the instruments the band are playing: guitars and drums. These are also typical to see in a conventional rock music video as most rock music videos have some form of performance within them.

When the chorus begins, the guitar distorts and the director cuts to a scene of the girl as a young woman. Her hands are held, as was the little girl but this time, it is against her will. She is struggling, resisting the nurses' efforts to drag her along. The young woman looks back as she is dragged and tears are shown on her face. The viewer sees through the woman's eyes as she watches her younger self with butterfly wings holding hands and dancing in a "ring around the rosy" circle. This is done to further emphasize that the little girl was happy. It cuts back to the woman's face, who is still watching, her expression sad. We see the little girl dancing with her parents again but this time, her wings are partially black. This foreshadows a future stage for what those wings symbolize.


With the start of the next verse, the parent's let go of the little girl's hands slowly. The girl's hands stay outstretched as if they didn't want to let go. The little girl walks forward, as she did in the beginning of the video but this time a faceless man approaches her instead. He kneels in front of her to indicate a familiarity with her and we see a part of his smile but we are not shown the eyes. Both man and girl are replaced by shadows with the male shadow gesturing with his finger to the girl with a back and forth motion as if to "suggest something not to do." The director is giving the first clue that there is a secret between the man and girl.


The video cuts away to show the little girl sitting on the floor with her hands in her lap and her head lowered. The man is still faceless, and his hands are on the girl's shoulders. There is a flash of shadow and then the man's hands are reaching out towards the girl with a brief hesitation. He rests her hands on her shoulder but she does not look up at him. The verse ends with this uncertainty. Despite the tension raised by the shadow scene, the writer wants to make it clear that this person is not immediately recognizable as a hero or villain.

The video cuts away with the chorus and shows the tortured face of the young woman again. A flash to a girl running to hide beneath the bed. It cuts away to the dancing parents and the girl as before, but this time there are plasters placed over the smiling parent's eyes. This is done to indicate that they are "blind" to what is happening to the girl.


We see the young woman being strapped to a bed. Then we see the faceless man approaching the same bed that the little girl just hid beneath. These back and forth flashes are meant to explain that the present is a direct result of this particular past so that we can tie them together as a viewer. The straps on the young woman are now seen as men's hands, wearing the sleeve of the sweater of the faceless man. It is no longer the straps holding her down, but the man's grip on her. The director is making it clear that it is not just physical bindings keeping this woman a prisoner, and as the man's hands are not real, it can be summerised that while the straps are of the physical world, that the hands are only in her mind, but just as imprisoning. As the bridge begins, the man flips over the bed that the little girl is hiding beneath. And stands over her. This reveals that she cannot hide from this man, because he will always find her.


We cut back to the faceless man resting his hand on the girl's shoulder as if to comfort her. These scenes cut back and forth again, tying them together until the little girl looks at the man, his hand on her shoulder and then stands up. The man does not move, or lower his hand. It is done in an effort to demonstrate that the movement for the girl is an internal action and not a physical one. The girl walks forward and black feathers fall from above her. She smiles, and there is an angel with black wings flying in place, the girl watches him and then smiles. This shows a form of intertextuality here as this "angel" can somewhat be typical in conventional rock videos. Because of it's black wings it can assumed it represents death and most rock songs lyrics are based on sorrow and pain. This is also used to target teenaged audiences as their life can be described as "difficult" and having thoughts of killing themselves and therefore resorting to death.

The demonstration of internal action is re-enforced by the producer cutting from the angel to the little girl seated once more with the man's hand on her shoulder.
There is an interrupted verse next. The young woman is still tied down and we can see a variety of pills scattered on a tray. A monarch butterfly, (same as the little girl's wings before,) was resting on that tray but begins to fly away. The young woman watches this happen. The butterfly is important because the director is demonstrating the difference between the monarch wings and the black wings. The winged angel that the girl saw before is linked to death, while the monarch symbolizes life. Having established by the nurses, pills and restraints that the young woman is in a hospital, it can be assumed that she is suicidal, and we are being shown the events that have caused this desire.

The video cuts to the little girl on the bed again, but this time there is a black handprint on her face. As the camera pulls back, we see that her entire body has these handprints, and as the camera pans a bit more, the walls and bed as well. There is nothing untouched by these black hand-prints and then the camera pulls back enough so that we see the faceless man's arm hanging by his side, his hand smeared with black paint. The paint is a representation of his actions and the marks they have left. Since black has so far symbolized death in the video, the man's handprints are black to represent the "death of innocence" of the girl.

The chorus begins again, and the girl lies on the bed, her hands tucked beneath her head. She is watching the angel with black wings wrestle/fight with the faceless man. This fight is meant to demonstrate that her painful memories and suicide are equally strong. Feathers start falling again, and sometimes the fight is shown as two shadows instead. This is meant to show again that this sort of internal struggle isn't always something we see clearly, even if we think we know what's going on.
The feathers continue to fall and then they are seen falling over the young woman, still strapped to the bed but no longer struggling. The woman is watching the black angel and the faceless man and as the shadows fight, the angel flies away, feathers falling as he goes. The faceless man smiles again, letting go of the girl's shoulder and stepping away from her, backing up but not turning around. We see the hands on the young woman's wrists and ankles let go, releasing her. Because of this, we can see that she was held hostage by both angel and faceless man but has now been freed from them both. The young woman curls up into a fetal position, and both faceless man and black angel are gone, with feathers ceasing to fall. The woman uncurls and steps away from the bed, and the little girl is moving towards her own bed. The music video ends with the young woman smiling, black feathers in the distance, leaving the bed and feathers behind. Out of the faceless man, the black angel and herself, only she remains. The camera focusing on her at the end is how this is indicated. The message this conveys is that while neither man nor angel was truly defeated; the young woman has found her freedom from both.